Has this ever happened to you: You’re in the middle of your second or third “good discussion” with a prospect. Everything’s going great. The prospect poses an innocent sounding question: “Say, how big is you company?”
Without hesitating for even a moment, you answer that question. 500 employees, one headquarters location, three regional offices, and six assembly facilities in three states.
The prospect nods. The conversation continues. Although there are plenty of smiles, pleasantries, and earnest promise to be in touch as you wrap up the meeting, the oddest thing takes place once you leave the building. All forward motion in the sale stops.
Guess what? When the prospect asked, “How big is your company?” the real questions was: “Will you be able to handle an 11-state distribution schedule?”
As it happens, you can handle an 11-state distribution schedule. But the answer your company taught you to repeat during on boarding sessions only mentions three states. And that was enough (non)information for this prospect to tune you out… without telling you why.
You must discover why the prospect asked the question you just heard. You must identify the underlying intent. If you don’t know the intent— the importance and true relevance of the question to the topic of discussion — you can’t respond intelligently.
Interested in more? Check out part 2!
http://www.salesmadeeasy.com/pressitems/show/11838/284
From 2014 September Sandler Brief
