Asking the Right Questions

Over the course of this semester, we covered various topics and subjects when selling in the startup environment.

I learned that asking the right questions and listening are the most important factors in making a successful sale. Many people believe that the salesperson should do all of the talking and sell the product. In reality, the salesperson is there to ask the right questions to reveal the problems and help alleviate the pains. Questions should be motivational and open ended. You never want to ask yes or no questions. This restricts conversation and limits potential. Questions should be designed to open the conversation and encourage the prospect to open up about the problems and also to uncover problems that the prospect did not even know existed. Questions can be used to uncover the budget of the prospect without actually asking for the budget. Questions will open up what the prospect thinks the product is worth, as well as bracketing. Bracketing is dividing the prices into ranges and seeing where the prospect fits. This is a less awkward way of finding the budget. Silence is a good thing, it allows the prospect to think, and the salesperson should encourage silence and not to talk over the prospect or try and change the prospect’s perspective or idea of what the pain is.