8 crucial questions to ask during a sales conversation

Kenneth Smit editorial | 30-08-2019

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Listen carefully, let your conversation partner do the talking and ask lots of questions. These are basic rules for every seller. Not always easy, if you mainly want to talk about your own proposition, but crucial to achieve a successful deal. But what questions are best to ask? Based on the experiences that all our trainers have had during their careers, we have listed our top 8 for you. 

How did you come into contact with us?

Your name and image in the market are worth gold, especially within the highly competitive and knowledge-based business services sector. Marketing your business takes a lot of time and effort. Networking, sharing knowledge, building trust, building authority: it's no small feat. That is why it is very smart to simply ask at the beginning of an introduction how your conversation partner came into contact with you. Via a shared relationship, via a blog, via Linkedin, via Google... it's all possible.

What are your short- and long-term goals?

To determine how you can best serve the prospect, it is very important to understand what the goals are. Both in the short term and long term. Insight into the short-term objectives can help you determine quick wins and priorities, while insight into the long-term objectives gives you an idea of ​​the horizon you need to work towards.

How can we make your manager/board happy together?

Your conversation partner is usually 'just' one of the many players in the game. Someone who has been given an assignment from above. For example, from the manager or board. So ask the question how you can make the client happy. What needs to be done to satisfy the key stakeholder? Ultimately, this also reflects on your conversation partner, so it has helped you both to identify the manager's interests.

What do you think of the current situation, what is going well and what could be improved?

Orientation towards a (new) supplier often arose from dissatisfaction with the current supplier or the current situation. Discuss openly with your conversation partner what is currently going well and what could be improved, so that you can determine for yourself which offer gives you the best chance of success.

How can I convince you to do business with us?

A fairly direct question, which many salespeople shy away from. But why? What's wrong with taking the plunge and simply asking the man what it takes to achieve a collaboration? What do you need to deliver to convince your prospect? Then you start working on that.

What are you looking for in the relationship with a supplier?

People work with people, not with brands. A relationship between customer and supplier is not a collaboration between company X and Y, but between two or more professionals. So ask early in the process what your conversation partner is looking for in a collaboration. How can trust be built, and how do you ideally interact with each other?

Who are the stakeholders in this process, and who decides?

As a seller you often only have contact with a limited number of discussion partners and contact persons. The web of stakeholders that are involved in the background and can be decisive is often not visible. So it certainly pays off to ask further questions about this. Who has a say in the decision and what is the division of roles. But above all: who decides!

What is your budget (range)?

This is also a question that is often avoided because it is quite direct and confrontational. However, without an indication or approximation of the available budget, it is very difficult for you to prepare a good and appropriate quotation. Moreover, your discussion partners almost always have an idea in advance of the (approximately) available budget. So it certainly doesn't hurt to ask for a range. This does not necessarily have to be accurate to the euro, of course. No you have, yes you can get it.

In addition to these 8 tips, would you like to learn more from our extensive sales experience? Then take a look at our expansion sales training offer!

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