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Sales tip: tap the power of silence

Consultative selling--developing prospect's awareness of need Free sales training articles Sales skills:non-verbals & buying signals Sales tips & techniques -- how to sell Sales training No Comments

Sales tip: silence is one of the essential communication skills . . . and a powerful selling skill, as well.

Think of the questions you ask in a sales call as seeds. It's crucial to give the questions time to grow, and the power of silence gives that time. After you ask, be silent, even if it means letting the silence hang in the air. That gives the prospect time to think and respond.

Ask a question, then let it "grow" in the silence and listen closely to the response. In some cases, you'll need to rephrase the question so it's clearer, or to focus the Decision Maker's response so it's more on target.

But those are exceptions. As a rule, once you've asked the question, bite your tongue and let the prospect talk. Listening well is at least as important a communication skill as speaking confidently.

There are other good reasons to ask fewer questions and allow more silence: constant interruptions to ask new questions may irritate the prospect.

Besides, if you let the prospect go at her own pace, and in the general direction she thinks best, you may find other potential needs opening up in ways that you wouldn't have anticipated.

Above all, don't be so busy asking questions (and thinking of what your next questions will be) that you neglect to listen to the answers you do get.  That's another benefit of the power of silence: silence gives you time not just to listen, but also time to think ahead.

Consultative selling at Staples

non-verbal communication No Comments

I needed a new laptop recently and did the usual rounds of stores. I ended up buying a HP from Staples, along with various accessories, and here's why: the sales rep asked good questions that broadened my thinking and gave me confidence that he knew his stuff, and that he was thinking ahead not just to making this sale but to winning my loyalty as a long-term customer.

I'd been around all the shops, and had in my mind settled on one at Sam's, costing around $1000.  On the way to Sam's, I stopped at Staples for one final look, hoping they'd have finally gotten in some new Toshibas (my long-time laptop of choice).  No luck on that front, but luck was with me as Evan stopped by to "answer any questions" as I was looking at one of the units.

Interestingly, instead of going for the sure thing and telling me the unit I was looking at was the usual "great choice," he began asking questions. (Whether the questions were Evans' own, or the result of Staples training I have no idea. But they were good.)

His first questions related to how familiar I was with computers in general. I passed on that score, so then he asked what I'd be using it for.  Since I don't play online games, he said, then I didn't need one with an I-5 chip.

In short, his questions expanded my thinking. (I was upgrading from Windows XP to 7 and didn't know what I was getting into, and  his questions guided me by bringing out the diffferences as they related to my actual work.)

He asked about my printers and my security software — a good way, of course, of expanding the potential sale, but prudent concerns all the same.  My printers were fine, but my old security wouldn't jibe with Win7, so there was another sale.

All in all, his questions, drawn from his obvious expertise,  built my confidence and trust in his various recommendations.  That confidence made me more open to his further questions, and so on.

I wish I'd taken notes of the questions he used. Suffice to say, they went much beyond the kind of questions we more often run into, the questions that only sow distrust: "How much did you expect to pay?"  and "Will you be paying by paper or plastic?"

As you know, in my books I focus on consultative selling and the use of the selling wedge, mostly in the context of making sales calls. on prospects  My point here is that consultative sales questions can be equally useful when the prospect comes to you. Both involve selling face to face, just in diffferent contexts.