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Unfortunately, when the seller is desperate to sell, like the tough economic times that we’re going through now, the buyer picks up on the desperation signals that the seller is giving off and the buyer-seller dance begins. For each move in the traditional sales process, there is a counter move by the suspect- buyer that usually ends with heavy price concessions or even worse, unpaid consulting (which is doubly painful).
The suspect-buyer’s counter-move to the seller’s qualifying move is “misleading intentions.” Why would anyone want to mislead the seller? Because it is an almost reflexive action, even defensive, to what might be a sales pitch coming from a seller eager to make a quick high pressure sale. (Think of an opening buyer-seller dance move in a retail store: Seller: Can I help you? Buyer: No thanks, I’m just looking.)
It is important to understand that in order to attract profitable clients; the seller must be in control of the sales process from beginning to end. Nonetheless, when the buyer-seller dance begins, it is the buyer who is, most often, in control of the sales process, and usually disappears with no sale being made.
The antidote to inadvertently lapsing into the buyer-seller dance is that the seller must ask open-ended questions, allowing the buyer to share with the seller the problems that the buyer is facing. Here is an amazing secret: It is the seller’s listening skill that lands the sale. The buyer wants to solve a problem, not hear a canned sales pitch of a product’s features and benefits, price pressure and overcoming objections, that usually comes from the hard-charging seller. (Think of the last time you went to an auto dealership to buy a car—where the deals are HUGE!!!)
Good open-ended questions require more of a description and explanation from the buyer. And here is another important sales secret revealed: The person asking questions is in control of the meeting. If you are talking more than 30% of the time in a sales conversation, you are not in control of the sales process. Nothing good happens for the buyer or seller when the seller talks too much.
Here are some examples of good open-ended questions: When you heard that squeak, then what happened? What have you done about it so far? When do you absolutely need this done by? What is important for you to know before making your decision? What’s your budget range? Are other people involved in making the decision? Why are you leaning in that direction?
TAKE ACTION: What are at least three good open-ended questions that you can come up with for your business?
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