Getting to Yes

Recently I got a question from an associate who I worked with at Aris, a company we took public ten years ago, who is managing a new Web 2.0 company.  His sales force is not having any trouble getting meetings with new potential clients, they are simply having trouble getting to yes.  When I asked my associate what he thought the problem was, he believes that his staff isn’t asking the right questions to gain commitment on moving forward.  This got me thinking back to the days when I carried a bag and managed a sales staff.

Great salespeople aren’t really salespeople at all.  They are people who care about their clients’ needs and sell to their concept of what they need.  These greats have two ears and one mouth, using them in that proportion during their meetings and phone conversations.  Getting to yes is really about asking questions and listening.  Client commitment happens naturally when the client feels you understand their problem by proposing something that fits their concept almost exactly.

During the process, asking questions is the best way to both find out your client’s concept and to then give information that is relevant to the client’s needs.  There are four types of questions that get you to yes.  They include:

• Confirmation Questions - these validate the data you already know or to find out why what you thought you knew is no longer true.  Typically you use confirmation questions at the beginning of every call to insure you are moving in the right direction.  You might confirm the buying influences, confirm the business issues, confirm the organization structure and to confirm the timing of their needs.  An example of a confirmation question might be, “Is your project still on track to be completed by January 31?”
• New Information Questions - these questions update your understanding and fill in the gaps.  They may also resolve potential discrepancies.  Use these questions to uncover missing information, to encourage a potential customer to openly explore information and in response to a “no” answer to confirmation questions.  An example of a new information question might be, “In your opinion, what are the key factors of this project’s success?”
• Attitude Questions - Attitude questions uncover opinions, feelings, values and attitudes.  They may also discover unidentified issues.  Use these to get a handle on the potential customer’s feeling or the feelings of others and to understand the real issues.  A good attitude question might be, “How did the CFO feel about the proposal?”
• Commitment Questions – Commitment questions show where you are in the sale process.  Use these types of questions to obtain the customer’s agreement to an action that allows your sale to move forward.  If your client is unwilling to commit to taking some kind of action, you may need to ask more new information or attitude questions to try to understand why you aren’t moving forward.  A great commitment question is to ask your client, “Can you and your staff prepare a presentation to us about your operation and how you might see a solution like ours fitting in?”

Using questions is the only way I have ever been able to tie a benefit of a product or service I was selling to the customer’s concept.  Be a good business person, understand your customer, propose what they need not what you need to sell.  Only then will you feel good about what you’ve sold and understand that selling isn’t talking, it’s asking questions and listening.