AN EASY MISTAKE… there is a great story about a psychiatrist, an engineer, and a doctor who got lost in the Canadian woods. It was bitterly cold and fortunately they stumbled across an empty trapper’s cabin and went inside for shelter. They quickly got a fire going in the wood burning stove in the corner and before long were feeling much more comfortable and out of danger.
Curiously enough the wood stove was mounted on a waist high platform unlike anything they had ever seen before. The three professionals started to ponder this rather unique set up….
1. The psychiatrist said it was because the trapper must have developed psychological problems as a result of isolation.
2. The engineer saw it as an ingenious form of forced air heating.
3. The doctor suggested the trapper had arthritis and was unable to bend over comfortably.
At this point the trapper arrived home and they were able to not only thank him for the shelter but ask him about the strange positioning of the woodstove on the platform. His answer was totally unexpected… “Simple, my stove pipe was too short.” Surprise, surprise.
Here is your ACTION STEP… funny how we all have different beliefs about the way things are. It shows up in the Sales Business all the time. In order to make sure that you don’t make the wrong assumptions with your prospects/clients it is critical that you ask lots of questions. The rule of thumb is… don’t assume, great Salespeople always dig deeper to find out the truth. Here are some great…FACT-FINDING QUESTIONS
1. Thank you for sharing, could you tell me more about that?
2. Interesting, what happened?
3. How do you mean?
4. Why do you say that?
5. Let me ask you, why do you ask?
6. What’s important to you about _________ ?
7. How do you feel about that?
8. Help me understand what you mean.
9. What specifically cause you to believe…?
10. Why would you want to do that?
The best way to provide great service is to control the sales process. The best way to gain that control is to ask lots of questions… fact-finding questions. One thing for sure… “The confident ask questions to learn what will connect. The insecure just keep talking with the hope that something will stick.”. Practice asking more questions every day. Do it with everybody, not just in sales situations. NO Excuses.