People buy for their reasons, not ours. Many average sales people with many years of experience miss this point early in sales conversations. And we don’t have to focus on SaaS companies in the tech industry to see examples of this. Consider any sales person you ever encountered in your life. So many of them start telling you why their product is the market leader, the biggest and the best or some version of that.
Please Stop Pitching
They are pitching reasons that they would buy the item in question. I often think about the example of buying a car. Some people care about what’s ‘under the hood’. By that I mean the performance abilities and technical aspects of the vehicle. That is literally all I can say about that because I don’t know anything else.
So obviously that is not how I would buy a car, yet anytime I have considered purchasing a car, sales people tell me about all of these technical features. All I want is a safe vehicle that won’t cost me too much to run and looks a little bit cool. But nobody ever ‘pitches’ that and no one ever asks me what I want.
A really simple way to engage our prospects is to simply ask them what they are interested in. And then share the elements of our offering that meet those needs. This is not difficult to do, all it requires is a simple mindshift.
Be Genuinely Curious
Instead of preparing to sell, we can be genuinely curious. This means we will ask questions that will help us to understand who the prospect is, what they care about and what challenges they are having. Then and only then will we know what we should ‘sell’ to them. I know if you’ve read this far you are probably thinking “That sounds fine but how do I know which questions I should ask to find all of that out?”. It is true that the specific questions we will need to ask may vary a little from prospect to prospect but there are a few guiding principles that will keep us on the right track; .
Start At The Start
Sounds simple and obvious? Most of the most effective sales strategies are simple and sometimes painfully obvious. Yet many of us overcomplicate things. By “Start at the start” I mean ask the prospect a very broad question to understand why they are talking to you. If this is an inbound lead it could be something like “What prompted you to reach out/download that content/request a demo and so on. If it is an outbound lead we can ask them “What made you respond to my request for a meeting?”
Many reps start the conversation in the middle. They skip the understanding phase and start telling the prospect why their offering is the best and all of the great things it can do for them. But no one cares about anything we say, until it has an impact on us. Including prospects. They don’t care (remember that car salesman I told you about earlier – I don’t care how impressive the engine is!)
Keep It Simple
We don’t need to use fancy words and complicated explanations to prove to a prospect that we know what we are talking about. If anything, that will only make them feel like we don’t understand them even more. Instead, just keep it simple. Think about what we want to know and then think of the most simplistic and straight forward way we can get that information from them.
Ask that question. I admit this does take some practice, however being aware of keeping it simple is an important step towards asking better questions. And we should also keep it simple when we do have the chance to share details about our offering and why we think we can help.
Ask Open Questions
Broad open questions are usually the most simplistic. An open question is one where the prospect has to give more than a yes or no answer. It requires some thought and engagement from them. Using open questions is a skill in itself however to begin with, if we can just remember which words usually begin an open question we can stay on track. Here are a list of words/phrases that almost always create an open question:
- What..
- Where..
- When..
- How..
- Why..
- Tell me..
- Describe to me..
- Explain to me..
- Help me to understand..
I often see reps fall into the trap of asking overcomplicated, closed questions. It is almost always subconscious so the next time you are on a call, listen to yourself and see which style you are using more. Even better, record yourself and listen back. It will change your perspective. To give us an example now though, complex questions happen when we ask things like “Do you do this or is it like that?” Do you think it is important or would it be better for you if it was that way”. Instead of creating scenarios for the prospect, ask a simple open question and stop talking.
Shut Up
In the best sales calls, the prospect is doing 80% of the talking and we are doing the other 20%. That means we are listening 80% of the time. We do not need to be talking as much as we usually are. This is actually really difficult to do. So we all need to practice shutting up. If we allow an ‘uncomfortable’ silence to descend, a funny thing can happen.
The prospect fills that silence with more valuable information about what they care about. You learn more and you understand more. We can also incorporate a bit more silence by utilizing the power of the pause. It feels scary and uncomfortable at the start but once we get the hang of it, it can be a game changer.
People buy for their reasons, not ours. If we want to engage our prospects and stand out from the crowd we need to ‘pitch’ the elements of our offering that appeal to their reasons for buying. But we can only do that, if we take the time to understand their reasons. We must take the time to ask the right questions.
No Two Buyers Are The Same
No two buyers are the same. Even if they are in the same industry, with the same title, the same level of seniority and the same gender. Just like no two people are exactly the same, no two prospects are the same. So we can never afford to skip straight to pitching. We must first understand who we are speaking to so we can find out what their reason for buying is. This is a tough skill to develop. How do you think you are doing so far? What tips do you have for others in a similar position to you? Let us know what you’ve experienced in the comments.
Until Next Time!