What comes to mind when you visualize the prospecting process? You might see a funnel with prospects going into the wide end and new accounts emerging one by one from the small end. That’s the typical picture, but maybe there’s something missing.
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Almost everyone appreciates compliments, and hearing a favorable remark will often inspire someone to make the effort to live up to that compliment. For example, if you’re trying to get a Gatekeeper at a company to help you connect with an unnamed Decision-Maker, you might say, “You sound like a helpful person who knows what she’s doing; if anyone there can get me to the right person, I’ll bet you can.” It’s amazing how effective this strategy can be in helping you get to the right person.
Here are some other ways to leverage people’s assistance by inspiring them to “make good” on your admiring remark:
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She’s very, very good at getting people to open up and talk about sensitive, revealing subjects. Over four decades she’s been interviewing politicians, business leaders and entertainment icons of all stripes. And anyone in sales can learn plenty from listening to her work.
We’re talking about Terry Gross, host of the Peabody award wining NPR show Fresh Air. Recognized for her artful probing and fearless drive to understand her subjects’ choices and motivations, Terry’s conversational style gets to the heart of things and makes it all seem easy.
We’ve picked just four aspects of her approach that insurance producers and prospectors would do well to emulate.
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In selling, questions play a central role. They’re the sales pro’s Swiss Army knife. You’ve got a multi-faceted tool that you can employ in almost any situation.
Questions are the tools you use to ask for or about anything. You use questions to set up a meeting with a prospect, to ask for relevant sales information, to ask prospects why they’re hesitating to buy, and ultimately to ask for the order and close the deal.
Questions and probes serve lots of different functions in the process of selling. If I had to pick the most strategic uses I’d offer these three: Continue reading →