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B2B Sales Best Practices

Secrets of Question Based Selling (book summary)

The following is a summary of Secrets of Question-Based Selling by Thomas Freese.

The QBS Selling Process

  1. Interest Generation
    1. Target multiple contacts in the account (top-down and bottom-up selling both work).
    2. Leaving voicemail
      1. Introduction: “Hi, John, this is Tom Freese with ABC Company. I’m on the team that works with commercial accounts in the tri-state area.”
      2. Pique curiosity
        1. ‘Subsetting’ from a larger list: “We’ve had thirteen new announcements over the last three and a half months, two of which might directly impact your business, and one of them is time sensitive … so, I wanted to try to catch you in the office this afternoon.
        2. Raising a flag: “We’ve had thirteen new announcements over the last three and a half months, two of which raised a flag with respect to your business … so, I wanted to try to catch you in the office this morning.”
        3. A question that only you can answer: “Hi, Susan, this is (your name and affiliation). I was hoping to catch you for a minute because I have a question — that only you can answer.” Optionally, include an associative reference: “I just got off the phone with Doris in purchasing and I have a question.”
        4. Something made me think of you: “I decided to pick up the telephone and call because something happened yesterday just before lunch that made me think of you.”
        5. Close: “Can you or someone on your team please call me back today at (770) 840 – 7640? I should be here today until around 5: 15 p.m.”
    3. Sending emails – Pique curiosity in the subject line with phrases such as: “Two Questions…” “On second thought…” “Wanted to ask a favor…” “Would like your opinion about…” “Per George Thompson…”
    4. Lukewarm sales call
      1. Introduction (to pique interest)
        1. Identify yourself and your company – “Hello, Mr. Prospect, my name is Jane Whitman, and I’m with Pharmacon Products Corporation. I’m on the customer service team that works with pharmaceutical suppliers in the tri-state area.” Avoid: “How are you today?”
        2. Associate to create a sense of familiarity via
          1. Personal endorsements – “Hi Steve, this is Chip Graddy of Northwestern Mutual Life. Did Fred Thompkins let you know I’d be calling?”
          2. Associative references – “I just got off the phone with Doris in purchasing … and I have a question.”
          3. Herd momentum – “Our products are currently being used by companies like Delta Air Lines, IBM, General Motors, …, just to name a few.”
          4. Glimpses of value – “We’ve figured out how to solve a series of very specific business problems that many customers in your industry currently face, and I wanted to see if it would make sense for us to have a conversation.
        3. Use humbling disclaimers to minimize your risk – “Do you have a minute, or did I catch you at a bad time?” If they say it is a bad time, then ask “When should I call back?”
        4. Begin transition to discovery by asking either:
          1. “Are you the right person to talk with about …?”
          2. “How familiar are you with ABC Company?“ But NOT “Are you familiar with ABC Company?“
      2. Discovery (to identify need)
        1. Complete transition to discovery by asking – “Can I ask you a couple specifics about ______?”
        2. Ask a series (five to six) of short, diagnostic questions that are narrow in scope in order to establish your credibility- “How many employees does your company currently have?” “What is your current network operating system?”
        3. Broaden the scope with two types of questions to challenge the prospect’s thinking to expose a variety of different areas where your products & services can add value by satisfying active and latent needs in the form of desires (“Gold medals”) or avoidance of pain (“German shepherds”).
          1. Issue questions – “To what extent is _____ important?” instead of “Is (obvious issue) important?”
          2. Implication questions – “ Have you ever calculated how much money every hour of unscheduled downtime is costing your company?”
        4. Expand responses with global (i.e. probing) questions – “How (sic) do you mean?” “How so?”
        5. Transition to the value proposition – “Would it make sense for me to take a minute and bring you up to speed on our products?”
      3. Value Proposition (to match your valuable solutions to their needs)
      4. Closing on next steps (to entice the prospect to agree to a presentation)
        1. Schedule additional events & manage prospect expectations – “Mr. Prospect, I can go on and on telling you about the value of our product … but here’s the problem. There’s no good way to show you how the product actually works over the telephone. That’s why, with most customers, we set up a (meeting, demo, or presentation) so you can understand how our product will address your specific issues.”
        2. Include other people who may play a role in the final decision – “Would it make sense to get the appropriate people together in front of a piece of paper to map out your options, the impact on your business (or personal situation), and the associated costs?” or “Who else needs to be involved in the discussion?”
  2. Presentation (to educate prospects on the value of your solutions using the PAS – problems, alternatives, solution – framework)
    1. Introduce the presenter and the audience
      1. Strive to be introduced by your contact at the company (prep them so they appropriate summarize the objectives of the session)
      2. Have your contact introduce the other participants (this more efficient than round-the-table introductions)
    2. Deliver an interactive opener – “To prepare for this presentation, I’ve talked at length with Carol Williams (vice president of sales), and I have become somewhat familiar with your operation. But rather than assume I already know everything about your business, it might be better to ask: What would you like me to accomplish in this presentation today?”
    3. Bond with people on their problems (this follows the same technique as the lukewarm discovery call
      1. Manage audience expectations / Build a mutual agenda – “Because some people in the audience are more familiar with our product than others, we usually start off by reviewing the issues our product solves, and then talk more specifically about how the product works. Would that make sense for this group?”
      2. Use diagnostic questions to establish credibility that verifies the information you already have – “Your company produces between 2,500 and 3,000 widgets each year, depending on demand, is that right?”
      3. Ask issue & implication questions to surface need, expanding with global (probing) questions where applicable
    4. Discuss why various alternatives that the prospect is (undeniably) going to consider might not offer the best solution.
      1. “As you know, Mr. Vice President, there are a couple of ways to (address problem or capture opportunity)…” Without badmouthing specific competitors, raise each alternative conceptually and then subtly poison it in the prospect’s mind.
      2. Alternatives generally fall into three categories:
        1. Do nothing (status quo)
        2. Act to solve the problem internally
        3. Choose a competitive product or service from someone else
      3. Communicate enough value in your Solution to drive urgency & justify a favorable purchasing decision
        1. Give prospects multiple reasons to buy (this is about linking your products & services to satisfy their needs, not about your features) by positioning benefits in the form of both Gold Medals & German Shepherds
          1. Gold Medals = positive rewards/gains
          2. German shepherds = pain or losses to be avoided
        2. Share stories about other customers
  3.  Closing
    1. Summarize each of the points made during the presentation, reiterating how your solution addresses the participants’ needs
    2. Ask: “That’s pretty much what we had planned to cover today. The question now is, do you like it?”
    3. Secure appropriate next steps – “Would you like me to prepare a detailed proposal that outlines the cost of our solutions?” or “Can we schedule a technical meeting, so my engineer can assess your existing configuration?”
    4. Ask: “Would like to know how much the solution costs?” – QBS says bring it up at the end of the presentation. Besides securing the option for additional events, the best time to cost – justify a purchase is right after the presentation, when the value of your offering is fresh in the mind of your prospects.

 

Key concepts

  • Every question has three attributes
    • Scope:
      • Narrow to establish credibility via mostly closed-ended questions
      • Broad to uncover true needs via open-ended questions
    • Focus
      • Status (narrow questions to diagnose during discovery or to assess the opportunity status)
      • Issues (strive to uncover three issues)
        • “What’s the most significant business issue you currently face?”
        • “To what extent is ___ important?”
      • Implications (for every issue, ask 3 probing implication questions) – ex: “What would happen if your computer system went down and was unavailable for an entire day?”
      • Solution – ex: “Mr. Prospect, if our product provides a solution for the issues we just discussed, would it make sense to (take the appropriate next step)?”
    • Disposition/tone
      • Positive/hopeful (worst)
      • Negative (OK) – ex: “Is it just me or is something bothering you about this proposal?” or “Mr. Prospect, are we at risk of losing this business?”
      • Neutral (best).
        • “Or no”: “Are we still in good shape to complete this deal by the end of the month, or do you think something might cause it to be delayed?”
        • Humbling disclaimer: “I don’t mean to push, but can I ask you about the budget for this project?”
        • Ask them to predict the outcome: “If you were a betting man, would you say this deal is getting ready to close, or would you say we’re at risk?”
  • Value
    • Most value is intangible and there is as much if not more value tied to the salesperson as there is to the product/service and the seller’s company
    • Your value proposition should essentially be “These are the challenges we help customers solve.”
    • Clients really want someone who can help them diagnose and solve the root causes of their problems and missed opportunities.
    • Since latent needs often dominate active needs, you must create urgency by facilitating conversations that raise potential issues and their implications so that prospects can make informed decisions about enhancing their status quo – in other words, challenge the prospect to create a discrepancy between what is and what could be.
  • Gold medals & German Shepherds: Always positive is not always productive. Position the value of your product or service using BOTH:
    • Gold medals = positive benefits your product provides.
    • German shepherds = The problems your product solves or prevents, esp. fear of failure. Ex. You don’t buy life insurance to own it. You buy life insurance because of the downside risk of not owning it.
  • Herd Theory/Momentum: Surrounding prospects with the perception that “everyone else” is already moving in a certain direction to tap into their fear of missing out. Top salespeople can usually rattle off between twenty-five and thirty herd references.
  • Mismatching: The harder you push, the harder prospects and customers tend to push back; it is an emotional knee-jerk reaction that causes people to respond in a contrarian manner. Ex. Instead of asking “Did I catch you at a good time?”, ask “Did I catch you at a bad time?” so they say “No, no. It’s okay. What can I do for you?” Most people love to buy, but very few want to be told, and even fewer want to be “sold.” To overcome mismatching:
    • Ask more questions and make fewer statements
    • Credibility reduces the prospect’s need to resist
    • Raise curiosity so that prospects invite us into more in-depth conversations about their needs and the value of our product or service.
    • Reverse: Turn questions around so that the responses you receive are actually in your favor. Ex. “Will the pricing in this proposal make your boss nervous?”
    • Highlighting many references (see Herd Theory)
  • Associative reference: A contact you manufacture within your targeted prospect accounts that legitimizes the reason to call key decision makers and initiate a productive dialogue.

 

Five strategies that make prospects curious

  1. Provocative questions and statements- ex. “Guess what?”
  2. Partial information (but don’t be vague) – ex: “Mr. Prospect, several weeks ago we submitted a proposal for your upcoming project. If our management was willing to offer a special incentive to close this deal by the end of the year, would you want to sit down and work through the details?”
  3. Glimpses of value – ex. “Do you find that some newly hired salespeople ramp up in a relatively short period of time while others struggle along and sometimes never make it over the hump?”
  4. Newness or exclusivity – “We have released 12 new enhancements in the last quarter, two of which would directly impact your business and I wanted to see if it would make sense to bring you up to speed.”
  5. Momentum (aka Herd Theory)

 

Five prerequisites to closing sales

This is basically BANT:

  1. A recognized need
  2. & 3. A viable solution that justifies the cost
  3. A sense of urgency
  4. The authority to buy.

 

Four keys to closing more sales

  1. Know the status of the opportunity. Does your buyer like the proposed solution? How does it compare to other solutions? When do they plan to decide? How much are they willing to pay? What are their outstanding concerns?
    1. Direct: “Mr. Prospect, are you ready to make a decision?” or “Is there anything that would prevent you from moving forward on this proposal?”
    2. Up close & personal: “Mr. Prospect, can I ask you something — off the record? How does your management really feel about the proposal we submitted?”
    3. Alternate choice: “Would you rather have a cash discount or attractive financing?”
    4. Asking about smaller components of the larger sale: “Have you thought about when you’d like to take delivery?
    5. Impending event: “Mr. Prospect, does it make sense to try to wrap this sale up by year-end so you can take advantage of our lower price?” “If so, what needs to happen between now and then?”
    6. Honest: “Mr. Prospect, can I ask your advice on something? I’m supposed to have a conference call with my sales manager tomorrow morning. I was originally forecasting this opportunity to close in September, but I would rather be accurate than optimistic. Do you think September is still a reasonable target, or should I tell my boss something different?”
  2. Tit-for-tat. If you are going to expend time, effort, and resources working on a sale, then you should expect something in return — a commitment, or at least a gesture that lets you know your efforts are accomplishing mutual goals. “Ms. Prospect, if we do this or that … would you be willing to agree to move forward with a purchase?”
  3. Reiterate Your Value Proposition
  4. Emotional Reassurance. Sellers must offer support at the end of the sales process — analytical support to justify the cost of the decision, and emotional reassurance to make prospects feel more comfortable. – “I understand this is a difficult decision. How can I help?” “Obviously you’ve been thinking long and hard about this decision. Would you feel better if …?” “Are you comfortable with …?”

  

 

Focus on everyone who can influence the outcome of the decision

  1. Decision makers – To identify, you can ask directly “Who will ultimately sign off on the purchase?”
  2. Influencers
  3. Executive sponsors – a senior manager who doesn’t actively participate in the detailed evaluation, but does approve the final decision before the purchase takes place.
  4. Champions – teach them how to effectively position your proposal. To identify, ask “How do you feel about the proposal that’s on the table?”
  5. Coaches – won’t fight for you like a Champion would but will give you valuable advice on how to proceed with the sale
  6. Informants – people who provide you with raw information that can help you make your next move (ex: executive assistants)
  7. Indifferents (limit your investment of time with these people)
  8. Anti-champions (Do not try to win them over; instead, try to neutralize them by getting them to merely agree that your solution could be viable.) To identify, ask “Is there anyone who might oppose this proposal?”

 

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