One of the secrets to success in sales lies in one tiny word that delivers a powerful punch: why?  The art of asking questions may seem too obvious at first glance but has a profound effect in sales and life.  In the sales industry there is no lack of sales training programs and new sales techniques. It seems every time you turn around there is a new book or program out that promises that if you just follow their easy steps, you will have great success.  The problem is that salespeople can get sidetracked by spending too much time focused on the sales process and with sharpening their sales tools, than actually taking time to learn about their customer and their customers business. Sales is more than just a process, but I will save that for a different article.  A second cardinal sin that salespeople often make is when the salesperson does all the taking.  How can you possibly understand what your customers needs are if you never let them talk?  Most people are so busy that unless you find a way to get them talking they are not going to volunteer the information you need. There is no better way to learn about your customers business than by asking questions.   Here are some questions you can ask that you might try:
1.       What is your biggest challenge right now?
2.       What are your short term goals?
3.       What gives you the greatest satisfaction?
4.       How do you define success?
5.       What are you doing to help grow your business?
6.       What are your corporate strategies?

Don’t be afraid of asking seemingly stupid questions. A side benefit of asking questions is that you get the customer talking and you inevitably find out much more information than you were originally looking for.  We as humans love to talk about things that we are passionate about.  This is no different for customers.  Most customers are passionate about their business and when asked are usually willing to open up, assuming they have the time.  Even if you know or think you know the answer the customer is going to give, ask anyway. Don’t assume anything. You would be surprised by what you hear if you just take a chance and ask anyway. Yes, you can and should do research on your customers before you meet with them. The internet has made it very easy to look up info on both the customer and their competitors.  You can rest assured that if you are not doing your homework, your competition is. However, this cannot and shouldn’t replace you getting information and knowledge directly from the source.

If you are looking to strengthen the relationship with your customer, asking questions is one way to do it. This shows your customers that you are more concerned about them and their business than you are with making a commission. Nothing can be more of a turn off to a customer or prevent them from doing business with you faster, than when they feel you have not at least tried to get to know them and their needs.  What if you only have a few minutes with your customers? It doesn’t have to take a lot of time to form a bond with your customers.  Starbucks is a great example of this. One of the main reasons they have been successful for so long is no matter how large of a company they have become, they haven’t lost sight of the importance of their Barista’s connecting with their customers.  They have proven that if the Barista’s can connect on a personal level with their customers, the customers will choose them over their competition, even at a higher price! If you really want to take a risk and speed up the relationship with a customer, ask this question “Tell me something you’ve never told somebody else?” Here are some other heart questions you can ask to help strengthen the relationships with your customers:
1.       Tell me about your children?
2.       What were your biggest challenges you had to starting this career or business?
3.       What keeps you up at night?
4.       What is your greatest accomplishment?
5.       Who are you responsible for?

Believe it or not it does take practice for asking good questions to become a habit. Don’t get discouraged, if you don’t get the answer you were looking for with your first question, you may need to drill down farther by asking probing questions.  The secret to your success in sales may only be a good question or two away. Go ahead take a risk and start asking your customers more questions, what do you have to lose?

"What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it is another matter." -- Peter Drucker
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Let’s be honest, the sales profession often gets a bad rap.  However, most of the bad rap is done by self-inflicted wounds. Often the sales profession is viewed as “suits” that can spin you in circles until you are dizzy or those salespeople who would tell you anything to make a sale. No doubt we have all had the unfortunate luck having a salesperson that was clearly only concerned with his or her own interests. This is the antithesis of what sales is all about.  Over the next few weeks in this new series on Sales, we will explore the many aspects or components of sales. However, in order to look at sales as a whole we need to first have a correct understanding of the essence of selling.

First, selling is about relationships and not just a transaction between a buyer and a seller.  This is one aspect of sales but is merely the transactional part of the sales process and not the essence.  The reality is that “People don’t want to be sold, but they do want to buy.”  I believe that this is in no small part due to the fact that so many salespeople have long forgotten that sales is more about relationship and communication than simply completing a transaction or signing a contract. We want to feel connected with the person we are doing business with.  Maribeth Kuzmeski, author of the book “The Connectors”, describes it this way “In sales, less of the memorized pitch and more of the informal conversational approach is exceptionally more successful.”

Second, selling is not simply just persuasion or negotiating terms with a buyer.  How important is the art of persuasion in sales?  “One 1995 study by Donald McClaskey concluded that one quarter of the gross domestic product is linked to persuasion.”  Persuasion is indeed important but trust is far more valuable in sales. It takes time to build trust and usually takes more than just a single transaction. This is one reason why the sales process is often viewed and referred to as a “Sales Cycle.” Part of selling is indeed discussing terms of a contract or agreement but this is a small aspect and is not necessarily only confined to those in sales.

Third, selling is about communication. It is often incorrectly viewed by both salespeople and customers that selling is all about talking. These salespeople are easy to recognize because when they are done talking you feel like they verbally vomited on you.  They give the impression that they like to hear themselves talk. The successful salespeople understand that they should do more listening than talking.  However listening can only be achieved if you can get your customer to talk and this is accomplished by asking questions, good questions that is.  We will dive into the art of asking good questions later on in this series but a way to start is to simply ask “how can I help you?” and then shut up and let the other person talk.

In the end selling is no different than most things in life; it comes down to the basics. If you are in sales, here are a few good reminders to help you become more successful by focusing on the basics:

1.       Never over promise and under deliver. This is often done by inflating the positives and ignoring the negatives.

2.       Become a resource for your customers. One way to do this is to ask yourself these questions: “how can I make them more successful?” or “do I understand the business problems they are trying to solve?”

3.       Listen more than you talk.

4.       Connecting with customers is more about substance than style.
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Napoleon Hill, an American author who was considered a great writer on success, poised this question in his book Think and Grow Rich.  Not only was this his most famous book but it’s considered one of the best- selling books of all time.  The concept like so many others successful concepts in life is simplistic in its form but powerful in its impact.  To be successful you need to have your own personal group of advisors or people in your life or immediate circle that can play an integral role in your development and success? Companies have Boards of Directors that fill this role and who hold the President and CEO accountable while at the same time ensuring the company is moving in the right direction.  What about you? Who do you turn to when you want career advice or need help with a business problem? In other words, who sits at your table?

The old saying definitely rings true here that no man or woman is an island. Being independent is a good quality but can be taken too far when we become isolated and don’t reach out to others for advice.  One of the enemies of success is the line of thinking that what worked in the past or is working now will continue to work in the future.  We all need people to bounce ideas off of and who can hold us accountable by speaking truth into our lives.  This of course is not a new concept.  The tricky part is who should receive an invitation to your dinner party and sit at your table, so to speak?   Your selection is critical as you are not looking for fans but rather those who will not be afraid of telling you what you may not want to hear.  Your personal group of advisors or those who sit at your table can be divided into two categories; “Invisible and Visible Counselors”.  Invisible Counselors are those who you don’t have a personal relationship with but are fed by them in other ways. Examples of these would be authors, speakers, business leaders, Religious leaders, etc.  Visible Counselors then are those who can actually sit at your table with you.  Some examples of these would be mentors, friends, family members, co-workers, etc.  

If you already have your own personal group of advisors that you trust and can rely on then you are on the path to success, whether personally or professionally.  If not, according to Napoleon Hill it may have to do with readiness.  “Psychologists have correctly said that ‘when one is truly ready for a thing, it puts in its appearance.’” 
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If you were to conduct an in-depth study of the most successful, industry leading companies, you would find their success is due in no small part to their willingness to innovate.  These companies understand that in order to stay ahead of the competition they must continuously innovate their products and services.  They also understand that just because a product was successful in the past is no guarantee that same product will be in the future.  This is the belief that if you continue to stand still for too long you will either be left in your competitor’s dust or worse run over.  What happens though when you reach a point where your customers are just not willing to pay extra for this innovation? This is the challenge or problem with innovation.

In a Wall Street Journal article back in May of this year, this problem was referred to as the Umbrella Problem.  “Manufacturers say that ‘they have a tough time innovating, because most people aren’t willing to pay much for an umbrella’. As a result, they are locked into a design mindset that ‘hasn’t changed in centuries.’ Even the director of product development at umbrella-maker Totes admits that ‘the umbrella is an archaic thing…it’s fundamentally a stick with spokes with a piece of cloth on it.’’ This article makes a strong point that maybe instead of the product being innovated, it is the business model that needs innovating.  If the customer is not willing to pay more for an umbrella then maybe the answer is in how it is marketed and packaged to the consumer.  A great example of this would be if an umbrella was packaged with a partner company like London Fog and offered a “total rain protection system.” The consumer would theoretically buy a pair of rain boots, a rain jacket and even a hat at a much higher total price. The manufacturer could then throw in an umbrella and market it as a “freebie”.  Since the umbrella would be part of the total package, if the consumer loses it they could contact the company and received a free one (up to a maximum #). The “total rain protection system” subsidizes the cost of the umbrella and more importantly the consumer feels like they are getting the umbrella for free!

Innovation is a great way to become a leader in your industry.  Yes it requires risk, but there is also a big risk in not innovating but rather continuing to sit still. Steve Jobs states clearly the importance of innovation; “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”  If you are having a hard time finding new ways to innovate your products or services, why not look at possibly innovating your business model instead?
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