(Post 9 in the Sales Series)
Breaking apart the components of the Set Up makes it easier to learn. Here are three parts of a great Set Up.
- Facts
- Feelings
- Framework
At this point, breaking out the clipboard is great. Prepare a questionnaire with the best questions for potential clients. Don’t try to manage this off the cuff. After you have completed 100 presentations in your field, you should have a fantastic question set. If you are new, sit down with more experienced reps or leaders and ask them what sort of questions are the most helpful to ask up front. You can tweak this as you use it but don’t go into the game without a game plan. I see thousands of mediocre salespeople and entire sales departments that “wing it” when it comes to this stage of the game.
PRO TIP:
*Have your sales order form right underneath your questionnaire to avoid that awkward moment later where you rummage around your bag to pull out the paperwork. You’ll thank me later. Get the contract out early so the client gets comfortable with it.
Facts and Feelings:
You have established a comfortable back and forth rhythm with your client during the warm-up. Now you have established credibility to begin to ask data point and pain point questions. Decisions are very emotional processes for buyers so please do not become a Data Monster. It might seem like a logical process can win the client but it simply will not. Buyers do not buy based upon the facts, they buy based upon how they feel about those facts.
Did you get that?
How they feel about the facts and data will motivate the purchase (or prevent it).
Most newbie salespeople don’t slow down and simply jump into the features and functions of their widgets.
Some facts are in your favor; such as if there wasn’t some level of openness to a new solution, they wouldn’t be sitting down with you. However, it is critical that you ask about that to get their answer out in play.
EX: “I know your time is valuable so you wouldn’t just waste it visiting with me (even though I am a lot of fun), so I sense there is some openness to a new solution for XX in your business. Can you tell me what improvements you are looking for?”
Then keep following that Q&A line completely to the end. Ask things like, “OK, I think I understand but clarify this a bit for me. If you actually had a good fix for this, how would that impact your company? Would it be a big deal?”
It’s tempting to point out that you think it would be a big deal.
Don’t. Anything that comes out of your mouth is suspect – anything that comes out of their mouth is gospel.
Your job is to get the right conclusions to occur in their mind and come out of their mouths. Their conclusions about the facts are fantastic, their feelings about those conclusions are priceless.
Business owners and Entrepreneurs are invited to take my Free Online Assessment on the main page of the 7th Gear Website.
Other Articles of the Sales Series:
