203: Virtual Selling - We Need A New Questioning Approach (Part Two)

<p>In Part One, we looked at the difficulties the modern communication platforms throw up because of the limitations of the technology, in particular, the poor audio quality.  Now we move forward to how we ask the questions and what we should ask.  Our client has various needs and we have to uncover them and the way to do that is ask questions.  This would seem the most obvious thing in the world. Yet there are legions of the great unwashed, hapless salespeople wandering around, spending all of their time pitching to clients.  There are in tell mode to sell, as opposed to using questions to sell.</p> <p> </p> <p>The client has some top of mind needs that revolve around them achieving the outcomes they desire.  We need to understand what results the client is looking for.  In the classic example, clients don’t buy drills.  They buy results - holes.  They want to hit targets, gain market share, increase revenues, manage costs, improve their systems, etc.</p> <p>There will be some buying criteria involved.  Budget is often what we think of here.  We want to know how much budget they have and then we can cut our cloth to match.  We should never forget that time and quality are also going to be key components here as well.  We need to find out more on these fronts.  A client assured me they had no budget for our training.  Digging in, I found they did have budget if we spread the payment over two financial years.  It wasn’t money, it was time, in this case.</p> <p> </p> <p>Practical details need to be found.  These are often the spec components of design, shape, colour, size, weight, durability, etc.  Do we actually have what they need or not?  If we don’t, then stop trying to slam the square peg into the round hole baby and move on. Find that client whose needs profile better matches what we do best.</p> <p> </p> <p>Although we are dealing with company representatives, they also have personal needs.  What is their WHY?  It could be to keep their boss happy, to rise through  the ranks, to get a big bonus, to snag a pr