This week, I think the universe has been “telling” me to write this blog post. It must be a sign when I can look back at this week and recall 1 face-to-face meeting, 2 phone calls, and 9 (yes nine) emails–every one of them aimed at directly getting me to buy or getting me to take action to buy. All messaging involved their stories, their product, their prestige, their accolades, their features or their next steps.
Listen up people: when trying to speak to me and get me to do something, should you not be doing your best to discover what is important to me? In other words, asking not telling?
Selling is really simple when you boil it down:
Selling is about communication; Understanding and then articulating the value you can bring to another person (or their business).
Value is subjective, so in order to understand what someone else values, you must first ask them the right questions.
“Telling” about your product or features or services is not selling.
“Asking” is selling.
“Learning” is selling.
“Listening” is selling.
Engaging your customers isn’t about getting them to ask more questions about you (though that can be good).
Engagement happens when you get people to tell you what’s important to them. What they need. What they want. What their obstacles are.
How do you know what to recommend to someone if you don’t know what they want, need or can afford?
Are you telling or are you asking?
Are you telling or are you selling?
Think about your sales communication – all of it:
Are you engaging customers or prospects with the hope that they ask more questions about you or sit back and listen while you ramble on all about yourself?
Or are you asking them to tell you more about themselves?
Until next time, keep kickin’ butt!
Pipeliner empowers salespeople to know exactly what questions to ask. Get your free trial of Pipeliner CRM now.
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