Softer Closing Questions Have Greater Impact

Is it possible for a salesperson to ask questions that are too aggressive, overly invasive, inappropriate, or just plain ineffective? The answer is a resounding yes. We have all been guilty of this from time to time, because being put in pressure-filled situations makes us revert to passing that pressure to make a sale onto the customer. It’s part of the risk you take when you accept a sales position. Not every prospect is going to move at your desired pace, or want to accept your suggested proposal. Hence the profession of sales is wrought with rejection. The key is minimize your risk with proven technique.

Now, if it is possible to ask questions in an ineffective manner, then common sense would tell us that it must also be possible to ask questions that are more effective, less aggressive, and overall more appropriate. The result of asking the right types of questions is the ability to facilitate more in-depth conversations with potential customers, acquire more information about their goals and objectives, build better relationships, and get a more accurate assessment of where the customer stands. All of that increases your probability of success in making a sale. Even more important, asking less offensive questions has the added benefit of reducing your risk of rejection.

Closing questions might provide the best insight into this phenomenon that having a softer touch can produce a much greater impact. For some reason, sellers have historically been lead to believe that closing a sale is the ultimate goal. They work hard to build relationships with potential buyers but then, as the sales process matures, they pounce and fire off a high-pressure closing question that begins to erode much of the credibility they have built with the customer thus far.

It’s important to realize that closing is not something that should be reserved for the end of the sales process. Once you engage the customer, you look for an opportunity to close on an appropriate next step–such as scheduling a meeting with their management team or the rest of the committee. Here’s what that might sound like in a typical sales conversation:

Salesperson: “Mr. Customer, if such-and-such is basically what you need, and our offering meets those needs, can we set up a meeting or conference call with your boss or whoever else will ultimately need to sign off on the decision?”

You might look at this question and wonder what’s wrong with that? I don’t like to think in terms of right and wrong because different circumstances do call for different approaches and there is almost always more than one way to be successful. Let me show you what I mean.

Like it or not, sellers are automatically presumed to be looking out for their own self-interest—namely conniving some way to secure a larger commission check. So, what may seem like a innocent enough question suddenly gets perceived very differently than was intended. As a result, here’s what the skeptical customer tends to hear:

Customer Interpretation: “Mr. Customer, can we hurry up and set up a meeting to sign off on this decision so I can bank a big commission check?”

What if we trained ourselves to think in terms of probability and risk. How do you reduce the risk of a customer mis-interpreting your question?

Your success in sales, in 2014 and beyond, will depend on your ability to sell in an environment that’s wrought with customer skepticism. You tell me—in the last two, five, or event ten years, have customers become more open and receptive toward vendors they don’t yet know or trust, or have they become more cautious and reserved? When I ask this question in QBS training seminars, virtually everyone agrees that the trend is toward the latter—they concur that prospective customers are more standoffish toward vendors than ever before.

Furthermore, have you ever thought about how uninviting a meeting request sounds coming from a vendor the customer doesn’t yet know or trust? Ask one of your customers this question: “Of all the vendors who ever asked for a meeting with you, what percentage ended up being a really good use of time?” When I ask this question to decision makers, the most common response is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 percent. If you think about it, that means the next vendor who requests a meeting faces the perception that there’s a 95% chance that the meeting will be a waste of time. If that’s the default perception, what are the chances the customer will invite their boss to attend the meeting? What about their peers, or the ultimate decision maker?

Here’s a frustrating scenario you might be able to relate to. I would set up a meeting and then travel across the country for a sales call with an important prospect. After my presentation, which went absolutely fantastic, the person I was meeting with would say, “Tom, that was really great. I wish Frank had been here.”

“Who’s Frank?”, I would ask.

“Oh, he’s the one who will make the final recommendation to the CFO,” they said.

So I’d fly back to Atlanta, make another appointment, and travel back to the customer site, go through my presentation again, and sure enough, after I finished, Frank would say, “Wow, Tom, that was great. I only wish Linda had been here to see it.”

“Who’s Linda!?”, I would ask through gritted teeth.

With this in mind, here’s the type of closing question I now ask. At the proper time in the call, when I want to set up an appropriate next step with the customer, I simply say:

QBS Salesperson: “Mr. Customer, would it make sense to get the appropriate people who would need to be involved in this decision, together in front of a whiteboard, so we could map out your options, the impact on your business, and the associated costs?”

Now there’s a lot going on in this one simple question, so let’s examine it piece by piece. Notice the first part of the question begins with the phrase,“Would it make sense to ______?” This is so much more effective than asking, “Can we ______?”, or worse yet, “I would like to suggest that we ______.” Asking “can we” or “I would like to suggest” sounds self-serving. And even though you didn’t actually say the words, self-serving questions tend to convey a message like, “Can we go ahead and take the next step, so I can make a sale and bring in a big bonus check.”Oops! that’s not a message you want to convey.

Instead, asking “Would it make sense to ______?”, brings logic into the equation. You’re essentially saying, “Mr. Customer, is this an appropriate next step from your perspective?” By not sounding self-serving in your delivery, you allow the customer to focus on your suggested next step rather than worrying about the size of your commission check. Bingo!

Secondly, observe that I’m simply asking if it would “make sense to get the appropriate people together in front of a white board.” I completely sidestep the risk of demeaning the value of my contact in the account by suggesting that he or she is not the right person. And the fact that we’re going to get in front of a white board (or, a piece of paper works just as well) instantly communicates that this is going to be an important gathering rather than just another vendor pitch (i.e. waste of time).

The next two words are critical. What are we going to be doing in front of a white board or piece of paper? Well, we’re going to “map out” their options, how those will impact their business, and discuss the associated costs. That’s what decision makers in every industry want to know—their options, the impact on their department, their business, or themselves personally, and they want to know the associated costs.

The key to executing the QBS approach lies in its subtly. Instead of aggressively going for the jugular and trying to close for a commitment, I’m doing just the opposite–employing a certainly ’softness’ to make it easy for customers to “want to” take the logical next step. If it doesn’t make sense for some reason, the customer will almost always tell you why not, or suggest an alternative plan of action. Both of those outcomes are good for the salesperson. Best of all, now you know the customer’s perspective on what makes the most sense and how best to proceed.

Let me add one piece of advice when executing this softer closing strategy. You must resist the temptation to chuckle in front of the customer when it works. Human nature is fairly predictable, so I can assure you that this strategy will work. But don’t look at this technique as some kind of gimmick, trick, or act of manipulation. You’re not forcing the customer to do anything. But even I have to admit, it is kind of comical when a customer says, “Wait a minute. If we’re going to be mapping out our strategy, then my boss needs to be in the room, and so does the rest of the committee, and someone from contracts. We can’t just be mapping stuff out without the right people present!” Bingo again!

                                                                       –Thomas A. Freese, President, QBS Research, Inc.