Category: Prospecting & Qualifying

Qualifying prospects during the initial call is one of the most important things you can do in sales, but for anyone who’s done it, you know that what’s difficult is asking a series of good questions without sounding like you’re interrogating your prospect.  Admittedly, there is a fine line between having a dialogue with someone and asking enough questions to see whether they qualify for your product and service, but how exactly do you do that?

It’s easy if you follow the steps below. Remember to always feel free to customize these questions to suite your personality and your product or service:

Step One: The first thing you need to do is frame an opening question that gives you the right to continue asking questions. Strange, I know, but the key word here is “frame” your question to earn the right to qualify. Here are some examples:

“_________ would it be O.K. if I asked you just a couple of quick questions to see if this would be a fit for you?”

OR

“_________, it sounds like this might work for you; do you mind if I ask you just a few questions so I can find the right fit?”

OR

“__________, I know you’re busy, and I’ll be brief. There’s just a few questions that will help give me an idea of what best to focus on when we next speak – do you have just a couple of minutes for me now?”

OR

“__________ let me get a clear idea of just a couple areas of importance for you, and then I’ll be in the best situation to tailor a demo for you next week.”
OR

“_________, would you mind if I took a few minutes to ask you a couple of questions so I can understand exactly what you might need, and how we can help?”

Framing your qualifying questions in this way always gives you some leeway in where to start and what to start asking. It also sets the right expectation for your prospect, and earns you a window to begin the qualification process.

Step Two: The way to seamlessly continue the qualification process is to use layering questions, when appropriate, to drill down on some of your prospect’s answers. Layering questions are simply questions that tag on to the previous question, and they are used to get even more information on a specific area.

Most sales reps have never taken the time to learn the fine art of the layering question, and haven’t developed the ability to truly listen enough which is a prerequisite for using them effectively. If you’re willing to learn and use them, though, you’ll be rewarded with a wealth of information which will make the closing process that much easier. Here’s some examples:

Question: “And besides yourself, who else weighs in on the decision?”

Layer: “And how do you figure in to that?”

OR

Layer: “And how much influence do they have?”

Another:

Question: “In terms of budget for this, how would our solution at (your price point) fit in right now?

(If their budget is tight right now, or they are not sure, then use:)

Layer: “What other department or bucket could you get the budget from if you really liked this?”

OR

Layer: “When you find something that you absolutely must have, where do you borrow the budget from?”

OR

“How have you made something like this fit in before?”

Another:

“What one thing can you think of that might prevent you from moving ahead on this in the next two weeks?”

Layer: “And how would you get around that?”

OR

“How have you been able to side step that in the past?”

OR

“And what would you propose to do if that happens?”

As you can see, with the proper use of layering questions, you will not only learn more information about the important qualifying areas, but you’ll also be able to seamlessly continue the conversation. Layering questions allow you to extend the qualification phase naturally as each question is a continuation to the question that was asked previously. This is the way you’ll earn the right to continue qualifying without sound like you’re interrogating someone.

Step Three: Address any Red Flags that come up during the process. One of the biggest problems sales reps run into is hearing possible problem areas come up and not addressing them. Many sales reps just hope these problems will go away or not come up again, but if they’re honest, they know they never do. In fact, the truth about Red Flags is that they almost always come back up and often tend to ruin the deal in the end.

By addressing them when you hear them, you not only have a chance to qualify them, but you also earn the right to keep asking questions while keeping your prospect engaged. Here are some examples:

Red Flag: “Well, I’ll have to run this by corporate.”

Ask: “What has their answer on something like this been in the past?”

OR

“And what do you think the chances of them approving this is?”

OR

“Based on where you see them leaning, what do you think they’ll say?”

And then:

“How can we best get them to approve something like this?”

Red Flag: “We’re getting several quotes on this…”

Ask: “Which one do you like best so far?”

OR

“What does the winning quote have to look like from your point of view?”

OR

“Our price point on this will be X. How do you think that will stack up with what you’re willing to spend on something like this?”

OR

“And what do you think they’ll need to see to pick us?”

Red Flag: “Well, we’re in no hurry on this.”

Ask: “And what is your realistic time frame like?”

OR

“What might change that?”

OR

“What’s going to motivate the decision to finally act on something like this?”

As you can see, asking questions of prospects – without sounding like you’re interrogating them – is easy if you take the time in advance to prepare the right kinds of questions. And don’t forget why you’re asking all these qualifying questions: 80% of the sale is made during the qualification call. If you do this part of the process correctly, then your closing percentage will go up effortlessly. And if you don’t thoroughly qualify, then you’ll likely just continue putting unqualified leads into your pipeline, and you already know how that turns out…

So reframe the prospecting call and learn how to earn the right to ask, and continue asking, qualifying questions without sounding like you’re interrogating a prospect. As you can see, it’s easy if you know how.

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Based on my last article “A Fresh Prospecting Approach for You,” many people are wondering what the two most important qualifiers are for any given sale. That’s a good question, and I’ll tell you that over the years I think they have changed. In the past, budget was the big stumbling block and the issue that sales reps really needed to drill down on. Now don’t think that budget isn’t important – it is! – but now with pricing being so transparent on websites and across social media, I don’t think that budget qualifies anymore as one of the “Big Two” qualifiers.

Before I go on, let me remind you that there are six main areas of qualifying that you need cover and know the answers to. They are:

• Why a prospect will buy (their buying motives)
• Why a prospect might NOT buy (potential objections)
• The budget
• Who the decision maker is (or decision makers)
• What their timeline is for making a decision
• And who your competition is for this sale

For all you sales managers out there, if you want greater control over your team, and you want them to get out more qualified leads, then simply put a checklist together for each lead that goes into the pipeline, and make your reps get the answers for the six areas above. I’ve covered in-depth qualifying questions for each of these areas in my book, “The Ultimate Book of Phone Scripts,” so I won’t go over them again here. If you’re a sales rep, remember you still must qualify for ALL SIX of these areas, but I believe now even more emphasis needs to be placed on the “Big Two” below:

• Decision Makers & Competition

The reason these are now so important is because of the Internet. It is now estimated that because of the plethora of information available online (social media sites, websites, blogs, customer reviews, wholesale sites, etc.) that over 60% of a sale is already determined before a prospect even talks to a sales rep. What this means is that the old sales standbys of yesterday “features and benefits” are far less important than they used to be. And that means competition and the decision tree is more important.

So here are some techniques and questions you can use to qualify for these two important areas:

For decision makers start with this basic question:

“And ________, besides yourself, who else weighs in on this kind of a decision?”

Asking this DM question in the assumptive (“who besides yourself”) rather than the closed-ended way of “Are you the decision maker…” often times exposes who else is involved and can even reveal what the decision time-line is like, too.

Once they reveal they have to talk to their regional manager, boss, or partner, you can then begin drilling down on this. Use any of the following layering questions:

“And how are you involved in the decision?”

Or

“And how much input do you have in this?”

OR

“And if you make a recommendation, do they usually go with it?”

OR

“Based on what you know of where they’re leaning right now, do you think this is something they might be interested in?”

OR

“What do you know about their timeline for something like this?”

OR

“What’s your gut telling you about the viability of this going through?”

OR

“What do you think they’d need to see to say yes on something like this?”

The point of layering your questions like this is so you can gather enough information to make your close easier later on. You see, nothing ambushes a closer more than getting to the end of their presentation only to be told that the prospect has to “Show it to someone else.” By qualifying in advance in this way, you’ll get information that you can then leverage at the end of your closing presentation to avoid falling into this trap.

For competition, you can use the following questions:

“And _________, who else have you looked at for this?”

[If they tell you a couple of names, then]

“And what do you think so far?”

OR

“And who do you like best so far?”

And then:

“And why is that?”

OR

“Who else are you going to reach out to for this?”

And then:

“And what are you hoping to accomplish by that?”

OR

“And why is it important to get several quotes?”

OR

“Who have you already looked at and said no to?”

And then:

“And what about them wasn’t a fit for you?”

OR

“Based on what you know of other company’s offerings, what do you like best about us?”

OR

“If you had three very similar proposals on the table, what would be the deciding factor of who you’d go with?”

OR

“What would you need to see from me to stop looking elsewhere?”

Asking these and other qualifying questions to uncover potential competitors will once again prevent you from being blindsided at the end of your presentation. Again, the Internet has changed the buying landscape for most companies and consumers, and it’s crucial to know these (and the other four) areas well before you go into your closing presentation.

And by using these questions, you will!

Like you, I get calls every week from inside sales reps trying to sell me their products and services. I used to just hang up on them, noting that I wasn’t missing much as most inside sales people are just not that good at engaging, listening, building rapport, etc. Lately, however, I’ve been listening more, realizing that I can learn just as much from a bad call as I can from a good one. Recently, I received a qualifying call from an appointment setter, and it turned out to be a fresh approach I’d not heard before. It also wasn’t that bad…

Here’s what happened: The call I received was from a company selling some sort of oil drilling private placement investment. For those of you unfamiliar with these, this is the kind of investment that a private company can sell directly to an individual investor. In other words, the company usually (and I use “usually” very loosely – check with your individual state governing body) doesn’t have to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and so can “usually” avoid a ton of administrative and regulatory red tape. But…

The big “but” here is that this type of investment vehicle can “usually” only be offered to, and sold to, what is known as an “accredited” investor, meaning someone who has at least a one million dollar net worth and income in excess of $200,000.

The company who contacted me is using a “qualifier” whose job it is to call and qualify people as an accredited investor before any sales rep speaks with them. This is a good strategy and one I’d not heard of before. Here’s how it went down:

Caller: “Hi, my name is Sonya, and I’m calling with the ABC Oil and Gas company here in North Carolina, am I speaking with Mike Brooks?”

Me: “Ah, yes…”

Caller: “Mike, this is not a sales call at all, and I only have two quick questions for you and then I’ll go, O.K.?”

Me: “Ah…sure, go ahead.”

Caller: “We have in our records that you are an accredited investor with a net worth of at least one million dollars, right?”

Me: “Sure”

Caller: “And is your income still at least $200,000 or over?”

Me: “Sure”

Caller: “O.K., great. One of our representatives will be in touch with you in the next few days. Good day…”

And that was it. She was gone almost as quickly as she appeared. And in the span of just a few moments, she had qualified me enough to pass me on (as a lead) to one of the closers. Very interesting. Let’s break down why this was so effective:

#1: She make sure she was speaking to the decision maker before she continued, “Am I speaking to Mike Brooks?”

#2: She sensed my hesitancy and immediately had a reply for it: “Mike this is not a sales call at all…”

#3: Next, she earned the right to ask just two questions because she then said she would be off the phone: “I only have two quick questions for you and then I’ll go, O.K.?”

#4: Then she qualified me for the two most important criteria in her sale – net worth and income.

#5: The ending was interesting. She told me that someone else would be following up, and before I could object, she hung up.

I’m not saying I love this call or hate it; I’m just impressed by how bold it was in qualifying, and how quickly she was able to generate a lead and then pass it on. Obviously, these two qualifiers are crucial to know before one of their sales rep gets involved, and this turned out to be an effective way to do it.

Now, how could you use this technique? First, if you work with appointment setters, lead gen reps or qualifiers, then pick out the two most important qualifications and then use the script above to create your pitch. Here are three examples:

If you’re selling lead or marketing services, it could be: 1) “Do you handle the lead-generation for marketing?” And 2) “If you plan to compare services or companies in the next quarter, would you be the one to speak with?”

If you’re selling online advertising, it could be: 1) “How much do you get involved in the online advertising decisions?” And 2) “Are you open to at least knowing about options to improve your current results while perhaps also saving money?”

If you’re selling real estate, it could be: 1) “Are you the home owner?” And 2) “Do you have any plans to consider selling your home in the next 12 months?”

You get the idea. Almost any product or service has a couple of key questions that a qualifier can ask to pre-qualify a lead. And the best part of this script is that it takes under a minute! Again, you’re on and then off with a prospect very quickly.

And, as I found, the prospect is left somewhat expecting the next call – whether they want it or not…

So, what are the two most important qualifiers for your sale?

Everybody has heard the expression: “If you want different results, you have to start doing things differently.” This is why all our New Year’s resolutions include doing different things: Not eating that donut in the morning; going to the gym after work instead of out to dinner; helping out more around the house, instead of relaxing with our feet up after dinner, etc. Remember, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.”

When it comes to closing more sales, what are you planning on doing differently? Are you going to come in earlier? Make more cold calls? Follow up with more customers? Ask for the upsell more often? While all these things will help, I’d like to give you two simple questions to begin asking during your qualifying and closing calls that can – and will – make a huge difference in closing more sales.

As many of you who have read my blog before know, the close is set up and, to a large part, determined by how good a job you’ve done during your qualifying call. Know the answers to the “five-qualifiers,” and you can be assured you’re dealing with a qualified lead. Anything less, and you run the risk of pitching unqualified leads – and that frequently means you’re just spinning your wheels. (click here to review what these five-qualifiers are)

Assuming, however, that you are dealing with a qualified lead, here are two questions you can insert in your calls that will have a dramatic effect on how much more business you close in 2015:

During the end of your prospecting call, simply ask this question: “(Prospect’s name) thanks for sharing all this information with me. So I can best prepare for our presentation next week, let me ask you this: What is the one thing you’ll be looking to learn more about that will determine whether or not you choose to put us to work for you next week?”

Then hit your MUTE button and LISTEN. If they don’t answer fully, simply un-mute and say, “OH?” and MUTE again.

Feel free to change this question to something suits you or your product or service better (like: “(Prospect’s name) if you were to lock onto one factor that will weigh most heavily on who you choose to go with for this, what would you say it is?”). Regardless of what question you feel comfortable with, get into the habit of asking it at the end of each and every qualifying call.

Next is what to say during the close. So many recordings of actual closes I listen to as part of my coaching and training consulting end in the same way: with the common stall of: “Let me run this by my V.P./owner/manager/boss, etc.” How many of YOUR presentations end in this way? More importantly, how do you respond?

Here’s the second question you should be using in these situations:
You: “(Prospect’s Name), I’m glad you brought that up and let me ask you: How long have you been working with (the V.P./owner, etc.)?”

Prospect: “Oh, about 3 years.”

You: “Great. So you’ve probably got a good idea of what he’s said in the past when you’ve run something like this by him. Let me ask you: given what you know about his priorities and where he’s leaning towards something like this, what do you anticipate he’ll say (or do)?”

Now, hit your MUTE button and listen for how this close is likely to go down. Once again, if you get a vague answer, simply un-mute yourself and say, “OH?” and MUTE once again. Next, depending on the answer, your next goal is to use layering questions and appropriate responses to isolate the real objection and move closer to the sale.

Like any and all techniques I recommend, don’t just take my word for it. Instead, use and practice these in your day to day calling and see for yourself how effective they are. Remember, though, the key is to use your mute button to let your prospect get everything out…

Closing more sales in 2015 is not only possible, but it’s going to happen to many sales reps and companies this year. But it will only happen if you keep to your New Year’s resolutions to do some things differently. I hope these are two new techniques you’ll begin using this week.

You’ve probably heard that nothing identifies you more as a sales person than using the worn out greeting, “How are you today?” right? Prospects know immediately who is calling and they can’t wait to get you off the phone. You know what else identifies you as a sales person? Using any of the following worn out tie downs like:

That’s a nice feature, isn’t it?
Would that make you feel better?
Are you with me so far?
And you’d like that, wouldn’t you?

There are many other tie downs that are so obviously a sales technique that using them makes you sound like a used car salesman. Besides being old and annoying, these kinds of tie downs are also closed ending statements that get your prospects saying ‘yes’ or ‘sure’ and nothing else. And that’s what you learn about your prospect’s buying motives – nothing.

Here’s a better way to use tie downs. First of all, remember what your purpose is in using tie downs: to take the pulse of your prospect to see if you’re losing them or if they’re with you, or if they’re bored or engaged, or if they have a question, etc.. In other words, because you’re selling over the phone and don’t have the visual cues you do when you’re in person, you must use some kind of check in statement to see how the conversation is going.

The key to successfully checking in with your prospect is to ask a tie down that engages your prospect and elicits some kind of response. What that means is that you must ask a question that is more open ended and sometimes even a little assumptive. It’s easy to change the worn out tie downs you may be using now, and here are some examples:

Instead of using, “That’s a nice feature, isn’t it?” you can ask:

“This will save you a lot of time over how you’re doing that now. Just out of curiosity, what are some of the things you might do with that extra time?”

Instead of saying, “Would that make you feel better?” you can ask:

“You’ll save money using our new processor, and how would that go over with the boss?”

Instead of saying, “Are you with me so far?” you can ask:

“You know, I’ve shared a lot of information with you so far, do you mind if I ask what you think about it?”

Instead of saying, “And you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” you can ask:

“Everybody obviously likes to save money (do less work, save time, etc.), how have you been able to save in this area this year?”

Again, the point is to ask questions (tie downs) that encourage your prospects to reveal information that you can then learn something from. If you’re listening carefully enough (remember to hit your MUTE button), then you’ll be surprised by the buying motives and hints to the sale you’ll hear.

By the way, if you’re a sales manager, this is a great exercise for a meeting. Get all your reps together and make a list of the worn out tie downs they are using now, and then brainstorm new ones that are open ended and that engage people. Your team will not only make more sales, but prospects will enjoy talking to them as well.

What do you think the most important skill of a Top 20% producer is? Persistence? Work ethic? Time management skills? Closing skills? Tenacity? Certainly all of these skills are present with any Top Performer, but what really separates a pro is their ability to truly listen. And I mean the ability to sit through awkward silences, to not jump in and speak when the client or prospect is thinking, and to be O.K., in fact even welcome, those dead silences when it’s almost impossible not to say something…

So how do you get better at listening? Here are the three top techniques I teach that immediately make you a better listener:

#1) Get in the habit of hitting your MUTE button immediately after you ask a question OR immediately after your prospect or client begins to speak. This habit will force you to listen and, because you’re muted, it even allows you to talk over your prospect because she/he won’t hear you!

The other rule with the MUTE button is to count slowly to 3 after they pause or when you think they are done speaking. You’ll be amazed by how they will often fill in the space and complete their thought – often giving you amazing information you can use to close the sale.

#2) Use my favorite technique to encourage someone to keep talking. If a prospect says something you don’t understand, or if they haven’t revealed a buying motive yet, when they stop talking, simply say, “Oh?” I know that sounds too easy, or even a little awkward, but try it and see for yourself how powerful this is.

Also, make sure your voice goes up at the end of the “Oh?” Put a question in your voice as you say this and after you do, make sure and Hit MUTE. If you master just this one technique, you’ll be so far ahead of your competition because you’ll learn much more from your prospects and clients…

#3) Use any of the following statements to encourage your prospects to keep talking:

“What do you mean by that?”

“And what else?”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, come again?”

“What would have to change for you?”

You see how this goes. The important thing is to ask an open ended question and, after you do, Hit MUTE!

It took me several years to learn how to truly listen to my prospects and clients, and I used all of the above techniques to help me get really good at it. I will tell you now that I hear things no one else hears. I hear the motive and the meaning behind what they are saying, and if I’m not clear, I simply say, “Oh?”

Don’t take my word for this, instead, try it yourself and see. I guarantee that once you get good at listening, you’ll get better at qualifying and closing. And if you don’t improve your listening skills, you won’t improve in those areas very much or very quickly. Remember, the most important skill of a Top Producer is the ability to truly listen.

Last week I was speaking with another training company about perhaps joint venturing on webinars together. They would give a webinar to my list of subscribers, and I would then give one to theirs. After the initial conversation, next steps were made and we were to exchange various deliverables and take the conversation to the next level.

After giving it some thought, however, I decided that we weren’t a good match for each other, and, before we went through all the trouble of sending and reviewing material, I emailed them and declined. The email I got back was brilliant. They thanked me for my time and then simply said:

“We always like to lose early.”

Now that’s a response from a company (or sales rep) who understands the value of qualifying. Unfortunately, most sales reps operate the exact opposite way. Here’s how most sales reps do it:

Most sales reps act with a desperation to put anyone into their pipeline that will take their information. They are then happy to call these very shaky prospects back and waste their time by sending information or revising documents or whatever else they are asked to do. And after this long and frustrating process, the majority of these prospects end up not being a sale. In fact:

The industry wide closing average is 1 or 2 out of ten prospects!

Think about that for just a moment. Think about all the time, energy, phone calls, voice messages, emails, chasing and disappointment you have to go through pursuing 8 or 9 prospects through a sales cycle only to have them finally tell you no.

That’s why the response, “We always like to lose early” is so brilliant. By losing the sale early in the process – as a direct result of an intensive, first qualifying call, by the way – we both saved ourselves a lot of work, a lot of time in following up and the disappointment of a lost deal at the end of it all.

What this all comes down to is the concept of “disqualifying” your leads rather than qualifying them just enough to get them into your pipeline. What this allows you to do is spend less time pitching unqualified leads that steal your valuable time. And I’m sure you know who I’m talking about…

In order to identify non-buyers early on, get into the habit of asking these types of qualifying questions during the initial call:

“I know we’re at the very early stages of this, but give me an idea of your time frame for making a decision on something like this.”

“If you like what you see in our demo, what would be the next steps for you?”

“What would hold you back from making a decision to move forward on something like this in the next two weeks?”

“Besides yourself, who would be making the final decision on this?”

Then layer:

“And what insight do you have on where they are leaning right now?”

And finally,

“From what I’ve been describing so far, what are your initial thoughts on this?”

If any of these questions reveal that your prospect might not be a good fit or won’t buy at this time for any reason, then hold off! The less time you spend pitching bad leads who aren’t going to buy, the more time you can spend finding the real buyers.

This is a big point, so here it is again:

The Top 20% producers spend more time disqualifying out the non-buyers and so less time stuffing unqualified leads into their pipeline hoping they will close. In other words, they would rather lose early because it frees them up to find and spend more time with buyers later on. And this is what makes them top producers.

I challenge you to start losing more sales earlier in the sales process so you can spend more time winning bigger deals more often.