Asking the Right Questions

As is the case with any kind of interaction, salespeople have a distinct advantage when they can tap good and reliable intelligence. Hereโ€™s a potential problem: Not gathering enough accurate intelligence about prospects. As a result, pipelines are filled with suspects rather than prospects. And your sales managers donโ€™t have the guts to call their people on it.

Hereโ€™s the key question: When your salespeople submit their forecasts, does your sales manager adjust them down for initial-to-projected forecast? Or do they simply โ€œguestimateโ€ (which means nothing) because they donโ€™t know how process to analyze the opportunity?

Itโ€™s typically easier for salespeople and their managers to discuss why they didnโ€™t win business, instead of asking themselves the right questions before spending time with the prospect.

See the problem? Here are some of the right questions:

โ€ข Why are you going after this prospect?

โ€ข Can we win, and should we pursue, this opportunity?

โ€ข If yes, how do you know?

โ€ข What is your strategy?

โ€ข Is there money, and do you know who has authority to spend it?

โ€ข How will selling this product/service help this organization specifically? Does the ROI justify the investment of time, money and effort on their side?

โ€ข Have we sold this prospect anything in the past? Who? What? Where? When? How? Why?

Does your sales manager know how much it costs to win a new account? Calculate the actual costs associated with generating a lead, a contact, an appointment, a proposal and a sale. Now, add in the opportunity cost of missed business they could have won if they werenโ€™t wasting time on business that wonโ€™t close quickly.

If youโ€™re like most sales organizations, the cost per pursuit is several hundred or even thousands of dollars altogether. Multiply that by the number of opportunities pursued and didnโ€™t close in the last 12 months. Staggering, isnโ€™t it?

Before your salespeople peruses the next opportunity, ask them: โ€œIf this were your money, would you spend it and why?โ€

Based on this information, does your sales manager know these things? If your sales manager canโ€™t answer these questions with what they believe are solid opportunities, fire them and find someone who can. โ™ฆ

Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business, a sales consulting and training firm. She is the best-selling author of โ€œTo Sell is NOT to Sellโ€ and works with Fortune 1000 companies and entrepreneurs. For more information or free sales tips, go to schulzbusiness.com and sign up for โ€œGretaNomics,โ€ a weekly video tip series, or email sales questions to greta@schulzbusiness.com.

Greta Schulz
gschulz@sfbwmag.com
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