In all my years of selling one of the most frustrating things that I’ve had to find ways to overcome was dealing with customers who answer all of my questions with “I don’t know”. That immediately started the game of “OK then I will just start guessing.” You can avoid the guessing game by trying this technique that I’ve found really helped getting my customers to open up.
Any good salesperson knows that asking questions is the number one way to learn about your customer’s business, their pains and hopefully their needs. I can’t tell you how many times I sat across from a customer that I was trying to help–knowing full well that I COULD help, if I could just get them to give me some information about what their needs and goals are.
The main problem that I found was that no matter what question I asked, the answer was always the same… “I don’t know” (or something similar). How could they not know? I mean it is their business right? Talk about a stalemate in a conversation. The worst part is trying to keep the sales process moving. I would go into “super salesman” mode and begin to tell them everything that I thought they needed. Sadly, this often left my custom cold when trying to get them to agree to the sale.
The problem with this type of customer is trying to find a better way to engage with them so they will start to really think about what they need and want and then share that with me.
How did I overcome this? There is an old saying that you can often say more with fewer words. In the case of selling, it was getting more with fewer words. Simply put, I would ask shorter questions. Many times I would ask questions that I felt were short and to the point, but considering I knew my product and or service better than my customer, they would see my questions as complicated and confusing.
I would often ask questions that had a few facts buried into it which resulted in my question being perceived as more of a statement which I was asking for feedback or their agreement. When you know your product or service well and are proud of it, you can often times be overzealous in your questions which cause your customers to become disengaged, giving you a cold shoulder or blank stare.
I overcame this by asking a series of short questions that could not be answered with one word. No “yes” or “no” questions. I would focus on asking questions that focused on “why” and “how”. I would also ask questions like “Could you explain that to me?” or “What is the biggest problem with that process?”
I instantly found that he shorter the question I asked, the longer and more detailed the answer I got was. After their answer, I would ask with another short question trying to extrapolate more on what they just said. By doing this the customer does all the talking which is what you want. This is where you need to perfect the skill of being a good listener. If they are talking you will learn what their needs, goals, pains and objections are. Before you know it, they will have revealed to you exactly what they need so you can educate them on how you can best serve them.
There are two main things to keep in mind when using the short question method.
One, ask easy, non-confrontation questions that you know they will respond.
Once they give you their response, you can continue asking short questions like, “Can you give me an example?” Then you need to pause and not say a word. Listen! Let the customer give you the information and then follow up with another short question like “How?” or “Why?” You are basically trying to do whatever you can to get them to talk more.
The second thing to remember is NOT to keep asking the same short questions.
If you do you will come across more like an inquisitive 4-year-old than a professional sales person. I found that the easiest way to avoid this is to pick up on a single item that they shared with you and focus further questioning on that.
When you focus on a single item, it demonstrates to the customer that you are truly listening and care about what they are saying. Nine out of ten times, if done properly your customer will share exactly what they need and will begin to ask you questions about the features and benefits of your product or service.
Less is more! Shorter questions will almost always get you longer answers. Conversely asking longer questions typically get you short and useless answers. If you want to actually learn about your customers needs and wants, take my advice as you will get there much quicker by asking shorter questions.
In all my years of selling one of the most frustrating things that I’ve had to find ways to overcome was dealing with customers who answer all of my questions with “I don’t know”. That immediately started the game of “OK then I will just start guessing.” You can avoid the guessing game by trying this technique that I’ve found really helped getting my customers to open up.
Any good salesperson knows that asking questions is the number one way to learn about your customer’s business, their pains and hopefully their needs. I can’t tell you how many times I sat across from a customer that I was trying to help–knowing full well that I COULD help, if I could just get them to give me some information about what their needs and goals are.
The main problem that I found was that no matter what question I asked, the answer was always the same… “I don’t know” (or something similar). How could they not know? I mean it is their business right? Talk about a stalemate in a conversation. The worst part is trying to keep the sales process moving. I would go into “super salesman” mode and begin to tell them everything that I thought they needed. Sadly, this often left my custom cold when trying to get them to agree to the sale.
The problem with this type of customer is trying to find a better way to engage with them so they will start to really think about what they need and want and then share that with me.
How did I overcome this? There is an old saying that you can often say more with fewer words. In the case of selling, it was getting more with fewer words. Simply put, I would ask shorter questions. Many times I would ask questions that I felt were short and to the point, but considering I knew my product and or service better than my customer, they would see my questions as complicated and confusing.
I would often ask questions that had a few facts buried into it which resulted in my question being perceived as more of a statement which I was asking for feedback or their agreement. When you know your product or service well and are proud of it, you can often times be overzealous in your questions which cause your customers to become disengaged, giving you a cold shoulder or blank stare.
I overcame this by asking a series of short questions that could not be answered with one word. No “yes” or “no” questions. I would focus on asking questions that focused on “why” and “how”. I would also ask questions like “Could you explain that to me?” or “What is the biggest problem with that process?”
I instantly found that he shorter the question I asked, the longer and more detailed the answer I got was. After their answer, I would ask with another short question trying to extrapolate more on what they just said. By doing this the customer does all the talking which is what you want. This is where you need to perfect the skill of being a good listener. If they are talking you will learn what their needs, goals, pains and objections are. Before you know it, they will have revealed to you exactly what they need so you can educate them on how you can best serve them.
There are two main things to keep in mind when using the short question method.
<b>One, ask easy, non-confrontation questions that you know they will respond.
</b>Once they give you their response, you can continue asking short questions like, “Can you give me an example?” Then you need to pause and not say a word. Listen! Let the customer give you the information and then follow up with another short question like “How?” or “Why?” You are basically trying to do whatever you can to get them to talk more.
<b>The second thing to remember is NOT to keep asking the same short questions.
</b>If you do you will come across more like an inquisitive 4-year-old than a professional sales person. I found that the easiest way to avoid this is to pick up on a single item that they shared with you and focus further questioning on that.
When you focus on a single item, it demonstrates to the customer that you are truly listening and care about what they are saying. Nine out of ten times, if done properly your customer will share exactly what they need and will begin to ask you questions about the features and benefits of your product or service.
Less is more! Shorter questions will almost always get you longer answers. Conversely asking longer questions typically get you short and useless answers. If you want to actually learn about your customers needs and wants, take my advice as you will get there much quicker by asking shorter questions.
