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.”