Learning from Dogs

Understanding the process of change – Discovering the needs

In yesterday’s Part Two, we raised the important question of how we change our views.  Of course, in selling the ‘we’ is the person you are selling to.  But to see into their view of the world, it obviously helps to think about ourselves for a while.

The psychology of change is beyond the skill set of this author and is one of many areas left to the psychology professionals.  However, here is a very basic notion that works for the salesperson.

The role of questions is to elicit answers.  (You see, I did say it was basic!.)

But straight away, one particular widely-held idea is going to be destroyed.

For more years than one wants to recall, the mantra in sales training is always to ask open questions.  In other words, questions that cannot be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.  To prove my point, here is a result of a Google search done just now using the search phrase, “sales questioning”.

• “… the absolute worst kind of questions to ask are those that have a one word answer.”
• “Closed questions that call for a “yes” or “no” answer tend to discourage people from talking, to give only limited information, and to set a negative tone.”
• “… a salesperson must ask open-ended questions and gather knowledge before presenting a compelling case.”
• “If you ask reflective questions instead of questions that can be answered with “Yes” or “No”, prospects usually share more information with you.”

This advice is just too simplistic, bordering on being wrong.  And any buyer used to meeting salesmen will spot the crudity of ‘open’ vs ‘closed’ questions in seconds.

A study of the top 20 salespeople of a high-tech organisation confirmed the following:

‘Top performers were no different in their mix of open and closed questions than were average performers.  Some of the best salespeople in this very successful company didn’t ask any open questions during the calls when they were observed.  Every one of their questions could be answered with a single word.  At the other extreme, several of the top people only asked open questions.  Some used a mixture of the two.  There was no identifiable relationship between success and the use of open or closed questions.’

What the research does show is that questioning is very powerful.  Questions:

• get your contact talking
• control attention
• persuade
• uncover needs

And the key finding: there is a clear link between success and the number of questions asked, whatever the type.

Think about the power of that statement.

More tomorrow.

By Paul Handover