Thoughtful Thursdays – Follow up to asking questions is not enough
Last week’s post, Asking questions is not enough, I talked about the importance of asking the right questions and ways to help develop the questions.
Yet, in spite of all the pre-call preparation, sometimes the important question still remain unasked. It used to puzzle me, but over the years helping hundreds of clients with sales I realize that their are distractions that come into play and interfere with the best plans.
Today’s sales thought is about those distractions.
So why are the questions not asked, even when they have been developed? It is not likely you forgot to ask, given the preparation work. Perhaps your contact took control of the conversation and did not allow you the time to ask, but this also unlikely.
The primary reason that questions are not asked is a fear of asking them. Here are some examples:
- Fear of offending the customer
- Fear of appearing to be pushy
- Fear of being perceived as not knowing what you are doing
- Fear of sounding stupid
These fears are real if they get in your way do doing your job. Truth is though, they are in the mind of the asker and become an acceptable excuse not to follow the sales call plan.
How to overcome these fears? Think about what you are trying to accomplish. You are helping your customer fulfill a need. In order to fulfill that need in the most beneficial way, the more information you have the better your recommendation will be.
I would be surprised if any of the fears listed above were valid.
As I have said in the past, do not let your self be the biggest obstacle to making the sale.
Good selling,
Richard
Have a question about sales? Contact Sakanashi and Associates Inc. and I will respond.
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