Ever caught yourself planning the next question during a sales call instead of truly listening? Happens to the best of us. Let’s break down how to ditch the script and turn discovery into genuine conversations.
For more strategies like this, check out my sales tip video library on YouTube…
A huge problem that I see salespeople have with the discovery process, and a major mistake that they make, is that they focus on the next question they’re going to ask as opposed to focusing on listening to the answer.
And when you do that, you sound robotic, programmatic…
it starts to come off as an interrogation as opposed to a conversation.
And when you think about a conversation that you have with your partner or with a colleague or with a friend, you’re not thinking about the next question, right? You’re thinking about what they’re saying, and you’re going to build on it.
And we need to do that in sales in the discovery process as well.
So here’s a couple of tips that can help you do that.
One. Train yourself to ask a follow on question like why? Or what do you mean? Or can you explain? Get them to detail more of what they’re already talking about.
This is a very natural way, then, for you to be listening to the conversation.
Also, train yourself to compliment what they’re saying.
Thanks for sharing that, or I really appreciate you letting me know.
That creates you a bit of time, it creates a bit of time in the conversation – a bit of breathing room, so to speak – so you can formulate your next question.
Second of all, I want you to also prepare for your discovery.
Know the content of the questions, not the questions themselves.
In other words, know that you have a goal going into this call where you want to dig into the current situation, the desired situation, and the metrics.
How will the customer know when they’ve accomplished success? And if that’s your goal for those three topics, then keep the conversation flowing in those three topics and ask follow on questions.
Tell me more about that.
What do you mean? Be prepared to also share examples.
So if again, your desire is to create a conversation around current situation, desired situation and metrics, know what some of the desired situations of your customers in situations like this one are.
Understand what the current situation was of some of the customers who’ve come to you.
So you can say, we experienced this with customer ABC or are you experiencing this? If the customer isn’t bringing forward some of the concerns that you have…
So if you prepare by staying focused on a goal, a conversation topic goal, as opposed to a list of questions, you’ll stay in the moment, you’ll listen better, you’ll listen more, and the customer will appreciate the conversation.
And that’s only going to lead to more closes.
Don’t forget to check out: Don’t Ignore Your Brand!