“I’m not a mind reader!”

If you have been married (or have been in sales) for more than 10 years, those words have probably crossed your lips at some point.

Or maybe you have asked yourself, “Why didn’t they just tell me that? That would have saved both of us so much time!”

Those are both legitimate questions, but they let us avoid responsibility for asking good questions—questions that could have elicited useful information when we needed it most.

Instead, we might ask ourselves, “Why didn’t I ask the tough question I really wanted to ask early on? Because of my aversion to hearing the word ‘no,’ how difficult did I make it for them to tell me the truth?”

Sometimes we as sales professionals make assumptions about what the other person is going to say. While it’s important to listen to your gut, it is equally important to verify what you think is really happening.

The best way to do this is by asking one or more open-ended questions. There are six major kinds of questions. Five of those begin with W, and one with H: who, what, where, when, why and how. Let’s begin with who.

Who

“Who will make the final decision?” I find many sales professionals are not talking to the true decision-maker. The decision-maker is the individual who can say “yes” or “pull the trigger.” Typically in an organization, everyone has the ability to say “no,” but only one person has the ability to say “yes.”

What

What is involved in the prospect’s decision-making process? Sometimes, you will find your prospects possess appropriate and logical ways of reaching decisions. Other times, you will find just the opposite. Knowing this before you give the proposal allows you to “fight up front,” if any part of their decision process does not make sense or devalues what you do.

When

“When would you like the project completed?” This may seem obvious, yet many salespeople do not have this information. Instead, they might ask when prospects want to make a decision. However, many prospects don’t realize how long it takes to implement a project. Or they get a time frame from a non-decision-maker, which can be meaningless.

Why

Ideally, we want to know the “why” before the “how.” In other words, “Why are you getting proposals right now, when your implementation date isn’t for 12 months? Why would you even consider firing your current vendor and hiring us or anyone else?”

Where

“Where do you see yourself making this decision—your office, mine?” Don’t underestimate the power of visualization. Other questions to consider are:

• “Where does our product help your organization the most?”
• “Where in your organization have you made changes like this before, and what happened?”

How

“How do you evaluate different proposals and pricing structures? How have you made decisions like this in the past? How do you decide who makes the final cut, and who is the winner?”

Another powerful technique is called “mind-reading out loud.” Try using this method for someone who hasn’t returned your phone call after three voice mails. Your script might sound something like the following:

Bill, I have left several voice mails and have not heard back from you. I get the feeling one of three things has happened:

              1. You have gone another direction and haven’t told me yet.

              2.You have decided to do nothing.

              3. You are still considering us, but you have unexpectedly been called out of town.

Please let me know whether any of these scenarios is the case.

You really can “mind-read” your prospect—but only if you ask good, open-ended questions and make it easy for them to tell
you the truth.