
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. Hereโs 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 donโt have the guts to call their people on it.
Hereโs 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 โguestimateโ (which means nothing) because they donโt know how process to analyze the opportunity?
Itโs typically easier for salespeople and their managers to discuss why they didnโt 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:
โข Why are you going after this prospect?
โข Can we win, and should we pursue, this opportunity?
โข If yes, how do you know?
โข What is your strategy?
โข Is there money, and do you know who has authority to spend it?
โข How will selling this product/service help this organization specifically? Does the ROI justify the investment of time, money and effort on their side?
โข 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 werenโt wasting time on business that wonโt close quickly.
If youโre 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 didnโt close in the last 12 months. Staggering, isnโt it?
Before your salespeople peruses the next opportunity, ask them: โIf 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 canโt answer these questions with what they believe are solid opportunities, fire them and find someone who can. โฆ
Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business, a sales consulting and training firm. She is the best-selling author of โTo 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 โGretaNomics,โ a weekly video tip series, or email sales questions to greta@schulzbusiness.com.