Ask follow-through questions

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Salespeople, generally speaking, stink at asking deeper questions. We ask basic, lay-of-the-land questions just fine. But we really perform poorly at following questions, more importantly their responses, through to their final conclusions.

Sales representatives don’t do this for two reasons:

1. They’re not trained well enough.
2. They get too excited with general information and fail to continue asking questions.

Sales representatives are not trained by sales managers that well any more. Drilling sales representatives to be more precise and professional in their craft is considered too demanding and stress-inducing. Give me a break. If you’re going to ask for specific, situational info, you’ve got to be prepared to continue the line of questioning until you know how the present situation is impacting their buyer’s business. You’ve got to role-play through all of the scenarios that could result from your questions, and be prepared for follow-through.

Think of the difference between asking simply, “How are you sharing documents amongst your team?” and leaving it alone after gaining that information. Versus following through with, “And what kind of roadblocks are you running into doing it that way?” And finally, closing the line of questioning with, “What kind of impact is that having on your team?” Many salespeople neglect to do this. They ask a question designed to get situational or operational issues out on the table, as though knowing the present situation is like finding the Holy Grail. Well, it’s not. The Holy Grail is found when a buyer shares details on the present situation and then explains the problems and consequences inherent in it. These details are almost never shared without follow-through questions.

Getting excited about general how-things-are-done information is an amateur oversight. If you want to solve people’s problems with your solutions, you’d better be clear about what those problems are. Not what you think they are, what they actually are, as told to you by the buyer.

Asking powerful follow-through questions will help you uncover and understand the present circumstances and challenges in ways your introductory questions never will.