Salespeople are slammed today. The one thing all salespeople have in common right now is their desperate need for more time, so investing energy with unqualified accounts or opportunities can become a killer. Unfortunately, in this rush for extra time, teaching a basic set of selling skills has been lost. One example of a lost skill is qualifying leads.
Salespeople know the importance of qualifying leads, but they haven’t been taught the methods of digging for the information in the first place. In the next few posts, I will share three ideas that I hope will help improve this lost skill of qualifying leads.
Idea #1: Position yourself before asking questions.
Most salespeople jump immediately into asking questions of a lead before setting the tone. When jumping right into questions, the leads will cooperate at the most minimal level. Usually, this equates to one-word answers or at best, a simple q & a session. Great salespeople don’t facilitate q & a sessions. Great salespeople spark dialogue. How? By positioning themselves before asking questions.
Instead of bombarding them with questions right away, let them know why you’ll be asking the questions and ask for their permission. A positioning statement might look like:
“We’ve helped several industrial companies like yours, but before assuming that we’re also a good fit for your needs, I’d like to ask you a few questions to make sure we can help you in the same way. Is that ok?”
This positioning statement is not as ambitious as a Disarming Authority Statement that is used later in the selling process, but it has a similar goal: inspire the customer relax and answer the questions fully and transparently.
Looking forward to next week’s post on asking about their budgets!
