Ask Questions to Secure Sales

Win sales long before the final presentation.

Lots of sales folks believe that their greatest opportunity to close a sale comes at the final presentation. Not so, writes S. Anthony Iannarino of The Sales Blog. In fact, the best chance to land a sale comes right at the beginning, with asking the right questions.

The statements that you make have far less power than the questions that you ask. In order to gain customer trust and beat out the competition, Iannarino suggests that you “make a list of power questions.”  These questions should:

• “Cut straight to the matter at hand.”

• Bring out all the “impediments, obstacles, roadblocks, and constraints that stand between your dream client and their desired result.”

• “Help your dream client think about their business in a way that helps them improve, and that helps them to take actions that help them improve.”

Iannarino presents three lesson steps to help you pen your own list of power questions in this well-written article. Ask the right questions at the start and you might just turn the final presentation into a mere formality.