Asking The Right Questions Can Take You From "No" To "Yes" And Win The Sale

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Your sales teams could struggle when they hear “no” after they pour time and energy into a making a sale. The key to changing a “no” to a “yes” could lie in how skilled your sales reps are at asking questions.

Andrea Sittig-Rolf, CEO of BlitzMasters, explains, “The question-answer game in sales is vital to not only finding, qualifying, and closing deals, but offering the best possible solutions to your prospects and customers. They key in asking the right questions is to keep them open-ended. Questions you ask your prospect should begin with the words who, what, why, when, where, and how.” Lead-ins such as “please describe” or “tell me about” can also encourage a prospect to provide details of their challenges and what they need in an IT solution. Sittig-Rolf says the goal is to get the prospect to do most of the talking in early meetings. For that reason, limit questions that begin with “are you,” “do you,” “will you,” “could you,” or other lead-ins that will result in a yes or no answer. Asking open-ended questions will also help you build a rapport with the prospect.

Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA) members Uwe von Sehrwald of Truno and Alejandro Swaby of Metrotouch Solutions, offered examples in RSPA’s connect magazine of questions that work for them during the sales process:

• Are you getting everything you need out of your system?
• What would like to be able to do that you can’t or wish you could do?
• Is your current provider taking good care of you?
• What types of issues have you had in the past one or two years with your technology? And, How did these impact your business?
• What are your immediate expectations of this technology purchase?
• What are the long term expectations of the purchase? Future Expansions? Multi-Locations Management? Franchising?

Even if you do everything right, sometimes it is still, “No.” Sittig-Rolf also has some suggestions for how to turn that no into a yes. She says that the problem can be in your initial approach to your sales calls. “If you’re scheduling an appointment just to sell something, you may have a tough time getting the appointment,” she explains. “If the perception of your prospect is that the very reason you’re calling is to either sell them something over the phone, or schedule a meeting to sell them something, you’ll likely hear things like ‘It’s not in our budget,’” and other excuses. “If, however, you position your introduction over the phone as an opportunity to meet in person so you can learn more about your prospect and their potential future needs, you may have better luck.”

Presenting yourself as a resource to a prospect, whether or not they are currently in the market, is a good way to establish a relationship. And giving something of value to them three times before asking anything in return can also help establish that base. Sittig-Rolf says, “If you’re genuinely interested in helping them with their plight, regardless of having the entire solution to sell yourself, your sincerity will become obvious to the prospect and it will only make sense they buy form you when they’re ready to make a purchase.”