WINNING NEW CLIENTS - TIP OF THE WEEK No. 4

ARE YOUR SALES VISITS CONVERSATIONS OR INTERROGATIONS?

How many sales visits do you make where YOU do all the talking? Especially on a first appointment, ask open questions - how, what, why, where, when, who - and then listen. Open questions make the customer talk, get descriptive answers and let you uncover their needs easily. Closed questions - will you, would you, do you, did you and have you - typically get "yes" or "no" answers and the sales visit quickly degenerates into an interrogation. The rapport breaks down, you make your pitch too early and before you really understand the customer's needs, you lose the order and the customer misses out on the benefits you could have delivered.