This past weekend I was working at the home and garden show in Pittsburgh. The vendor next to me was a guy selling lifetime pots and pans. He would hold cooking demonstrations, to show how special his pans really were.
After people sat down to watch his show the first thing he would do would be ask them a question. The question would be very generic. The first thing he would try to sell would be the pans. He would say something to the effect of do you guys cook this or do this in the kitchen. Almost all of the people would raise there hand to signify that they did do that. Then he would start to ask more specific questions about that process. After a series of three or more questions he would highlight why the pan he was demonstrating would alleviate the problem the people had.
Even though he was demonstrating to a group of 10-15 people he made it personal for each of them by asking the questions. He never opened up just talking about his product or the benefits. He was methodical with how he asked the questions and how to keep people interested in his demonstration. It highlighted what we talked about in class about asking questions and not just telling product benefits.
BoweryJE22
Asking personal questions is definitely a must-do in effective selling. I find its good to make people like they’re a part of the story of the product and what its going to do for them rather than being mere observers at the saleperson doing his/her thing
Asking quality question doesn’t only get a sales person to the why of the problem, but it also keep the client interested in your products. People often under estimate the power of asking quality questions.