Top Three Skills for Managing Sales People
Skill 1. High Result Questions
Every sales person and his dog knows that asking a customer the right questions unlocks the right needs and opportunities to sell your product or service. Questioning is a vital starting point to any selling discussion.
In many years of managing and training sales people, I have found that consistently great questioning is a talent that needs to be practised. If not nurtured, guess what? The talent dwindles and we return to lazy, agenda laden questions, then wonder why we aren’t getting the answers we expect.The same applies to sales directors, in fact to any leader in business. Nurture this talent for great results.
What are High Result Questions?
High Result Questions are open questions that get lots of useful and relevant answers. Asking them with positive regard and genuiness is a skill and is the difference between a manager and a great leader.
Here is an extract from a conversation I heard recently between Greg, a sales manager, and his salesperson, Simon:
Greg “How did you get on with Hendersons?”
Simon “It seemed to go OK. They liked the second option”
Greg “Are they going to go for it do you think?”
Simon “They seemed interested”
Greg “How much will it be worth do you think?”
Simon “Well…. It’s early days….I’m not sure, £2k maybe.”
Simon, the sales guy here, was pinned down pretty quickly and clammed up as a result. Greg, asked me later what I thought of his salesman and whether I thought he was any good. I replied that I couldn’t tell because I hadn’t heard much and maybe we could work on the questions? “What do you mean?” says Greg, “I asked open questions didn’t I?’. “Well yes” I replied but High Result Questions would have got more out of Simon.
How to ask High Result Questions
Simply put, what we’re after is an open question with a juicy word or two added which will gain lots of relevant information.
We know the old Rudyard Kipling Extract:
“I KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.”
All you need to do is add a High Result Question Insert to one of Kipling’s question-openers.
Try one of the inserts below:
Once we had talked this over, Greg realized that, if he had been with the customer, he would have been asking them High Result Questions naturally. Questions to understand their needs, tailor his proposal and close the deal. What he needed to do was treat Simon as a customer to understand how successful the meeting with Hendersons had been. Simon actually was a valued internal customer and Greg knew that.
Let’s see how Greg might have added some High Result Questions to his discussion with Simon:
Greg “What went particularly well with Hendersons?”
Simon “It all seemed to go OK, they liked the second option best though, in particular the way that we had tailored the offer to their customers ”
Greg “What was it they liked best about how we tailored it?”
Simon “They liked how we split it out into the three types of customer they have, with a different proposition for each, they said nobody else had approached it like that”
Greg “So what would be our most effective move now to secure the deal Simon and what exactly could be worth?”
Simon “Well if we get back today with the proposal, giving them 24hrs to sign, then the sales would start next month and be around £2k a month.”
Greg would have got the information he wanted and more. Simon would feel like had been given time to describe the sales call well and able to think about next steps and value.
Believe me, this is a skill, remind yourself of it regularly, try it out on your children, they love it especially to replace the ‘How was school today?’ stock answer ( ‘fine Mum’). Ring any bells?
What High Result Questions could you ask your sales people today?
Let me know how you get on.