by Nick Miller of Clarity Advantage

In which we are reminded that a certain amount of flexibility in sales conversations is helpful, even if it ain’t what we expected.

“Who knows how to get to the airport from here?” asked our client 

We had finished our meeting a little early and walked slowly from the office tower to the parking lot, a distance of several blocks, enjoying a softly warm early Spring day – our client, one of my colleagues, and me.

We eased into the rental car, me in the back, client (driving) and colleague in the front. 

 Neither I nor my colleague knew the way to the airport so our client pulled out her GPS device and programmed it. I did the same with mine in the back seat, saying something like, “Oh, I’m happy to do this so you have your hands free to drive, here we go.”  

She finished her programming a little before I did and her GPS voice instructed us to “continue on” for two blocks and turn right. Mine, on the other hand, suggested a left turn.

In which we are reminded to understand our client’s purpose in a discussion.

Someone asked me this week, ‘Do you have a favorite question that you use in sales calls?’

 After overcoming the urge to reply, ‘Yes,’  and listing a dozen wonderful questions, I replied, ‘Tell me a little about what’s happening in your calls.”

The asker’s reply: ‘Well, you know, a question that gets your clients to open up and tell you what you need to know so you know what to talk about or what to sell.’

I found myself wondering about this guy’s social life. Like, has he spent his life searching for the one favorite question or line that would lead otherwise perfectly sensible prospective mates to sigh, swoon, and run off with him to live happily ever after? Has he been searching for THAT one favorite question, too?

‘Well, how do you typically manage your calls?’ I asked. I won’t bore you with his answer, ‘blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,’ and I discovered, as I listened to his meanderings, that I do, in fact, have a favorite question.

This is such a powerful question that I should be charging you hundreds or thousands of dollars just simply to be reading this column, so convinced I am that your regular use of this question will increase your sales. I run the risk of giving up half my income for the rest of my life by sharing this incredible secret with you. A secret that took me years of research and experience with thousands of sales people to discover.

In which we discuss the importance of referrals rather than the power of magic words to gain audiences with prospects.

In our neck of the woods, Harry Potter movies appear on various cable channels almost as frequently as “storm chaser” programs featuring lunatics who chase or who are chased by tornados.  Having watched both genres a few times, and knowing that in both cases the endings are good and the acting is bad,  I strongly prefer the Potter movies for recreational couch sitting, particularly the first three.

I love the moments when Harry or Ron or their friends are in immediate, ghastly, horrfying danger, blabbering words for a spell,  not quite getting it right, until, just at the last moment, they SAY THE RIGHT WORDS … and… WHAM.. they’re saved.   Strong wizardly power.

As a parent and sales coach, however, I’m NOT crazy about “wizard power” because it creeps into our thinking and undermines our human power.

For example: During one of our recent “Winning at Prospecting” training sessions,  we’d just finished the discussion about “Rule #1: Referrals, Referrals, Referrals” when one of the participants (with the immediate agreement of others in the room) said,

“I just keep thinking that, if I somehow say the right words, I’ll get an appointment.”

… in which we discuss the benefits of asking broader questions before we qualify someone for our products..It’s a small cafeteria. Solid food to the right. Salad to the left. Cashier at the end.
 
Running to an early morning project team meeting down the hall, two of us swept through, grabbing orange juices, bananas, and blueberry yogurts to sustain us. “Spoons,” my partner said. “Right,” I replied, looking left, right, and down. “Spoons.”
 
None in sight. “This is silly,” I thought, looking at counter tops. “They should be here.” Couldn’t see a one.
 
We found cafeteria staff. She pointed down to the counter that had been directly in front of us. I could see them, now that I’d backed up a few paces. Spoons. Full-sized spoons. BLACK spoons.
 
Well, I hadn’t been looking for full-sized BLACK spoons. I’d been looking for small, flimsy, white plastic spoons. I was right on top of the black spoons and I couldn’t see them while I was looking right at them.
 
We have this experience in sales calls, too. We’re moving so quickly and looking so intently for the specific needs we planned to address (white spoons) that we miss other possible opportunities or needs that we could sell or cross sell (black spoons).
 
One strategy to address this tendency is to start with ‘business’ questions rather than ‘product-qualification questions.’
 
Business questions are broad, survey questions. Product qualification questions tend to be very specific.
 
Suppose we’re selling printers and software. The just-looking-for-white-spoons “product qualification” questions would sound something like, “What kind of computers and software are you using” or “What kind of network are you operating” or “How do you currently print proposals?”
 
If we’re bankers, the product qualification just-looking-for-white-spoons questions could include “what checking accounts do you use” or “how do you use lines of credit to finance seasonal working capital?” or “how do you currently collect and process your accounts receivable?”
 
Broader business questions might include, “How has your business been evolving over the last couple of years” or “What sorts of challenges are you facing in supporting your customers” or “How have the changes in the economy affected your business?”
 
Questions like these broaden our vision a bit. We can, at least, see the black spoons or other spoons, whether or not we choose to pick them up.

by Nick Miller of Clarity Advantage