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One question and one question only
December 10, 2007

Having done thousands of sales coaching calls, I am rarely surprised any more. I’ve heard their ailments and bemoaning issues enough times to finish their sentences. Every once in a while, however, I hear something new and jump on it like a fox. A coaching call last Thursday provided that opportunity.

“Dennis” (not his real name. His real name is Michael.) offered up this gem:

“If a prospect you were meeting with for the first time said, ‘You can ask me one question and one question only,’ what would it be?”

I loved his creative thinking. This kid is going to be a Sales Stud someday with that kind of thought process.

This being a Blog entry and not a 600 word column, I will spare you the filler and cut to the chase: What kind of outcome do you want from a question like this?

Certainly, you could ask about his printing needs, current buying patterns, preferred vendor, selection process, blah, blah, blah. In fact, when I turned the question back on him, those were the types of questions he asked. But instead, I tried to get him thinking about understanding needs and opening up a conversation that leads to problem resolution.

Here was my answer to his question: “Where is your company going in 2008?”

The best print sales are the ones where the rep is brought in at the design stage of the job. By understanding what the challenges of a prospect or customer might be, a printing sales person has the opportunity to make suggestions and further brand himself as a problem-solver as opposed to just another place to quote a job. The lesson here is to focus on the customer’s issues, not their existing print purchases.

Posted by Bill Farquharson on December 10, 2007 | Comments (0)