I teach a strategy called Outcome Questioning. Although teaching this communication approach takes many sessions and exercises, I can give you’re the concept in a few sentences:
Outcome questions add emotional impact to a sales conversation. All good sales people ask probing questions that help the sales person understand the customer’s scenarios.
The good ones use that info to offer a solution to their pain. However, the great ones continue to ask questions about the customer’s scenario. Specifically, they ask the customer about the outcome if they do nothing (or pick a cheaper solution).
The goal is to get the customer to think about the outcome and feel how it affects them personally.
Quick example:
Scenario Question:
Why do need guaranteed response time on your maintenance agreement?
Scenario Answer:
The government contract we received from Raytheon requires it.
Outcome Question:
What happens if you can’t prove that you have that level of response time?
Outcome Answer:
At first, we’ll be fined. Eventually, we’ll lose the contract?
Outcome Question:
How important is this contract to your company?
Outcome Answer:
It’s about half our revenue, and we’ll have to lay off a lot of people if we lose it.
“The government contract we received from Raytheon requires it” doesn’t really strike any emotion. However, “… we’ll have to lay off a lot of people …” does make an emotional impact.
In two sessions I gave last week, it was implied that this type of questioning was fear-mongering. I did some thinking on this on Friday afternoon as I was driving five hours to Hilton Head for the long weekend. The last thing I want to do is suggest some type of cheesy fear-mongering strategy to my clients.
My conclusion: If positioned properly, Outcome Questions are the highest form of sales professionalism. I’ve determined some requirements though, and have listed below:
- Your questions have to lead to realistic outcomes.
- If your questions lead to outcomes that have slim probability, then state that fact. “There is a very small chance of this happening, but it’s still probably worth address … what happens if…”
- If possible, make your Outcome Questions positive: “How will it affect your day-to-day if you have four hour response time?” They’ll start telling you how great it would be to have your premium maintenance agreement in place, and will experience the positive emotion that comes with it.
Outcome questions are the highest form of sales professionalism because you are asking the tough questions that other sales people are afraid to ask. Your customers need to be walked through those outcomes so they understand the impact – positive or negative. However, make sure you position them considering the three requirements above.
