How I Get People to Listen Up to Me with 3-Stage Questions

You know, people only take salespeople seriously when they think that the salesperson can really make a difference to their lives. Many salespeople are trained on how to ask questions to get the sale, but few are trained on how to ask 'Tough' questions that get you the sale immediately.

In our sales training (eg Selling Ice to the Eskimos or Winning Sales Strategies), we often teach the following 3-stage questions:

1st stage: make a factual statement that can’t be refuted

E.g. “Most sales staffs rarely meet the sales targets set for them by their company”;
E.g. “Most businesses tend to do well in the initial years and falter as the years go by”

2nd stage: make a personal observation that reflects your experience and creates instant credibility

E.g. “Experience from other companies has shown us that the reason for stagnant sales is not the competition but the lack of drive in the sales team.  Often the salespeople have little on-going training and most don't have their own goal-setting process in place. Interestingly the sales staffs tend to blame their inability to sell on other things and other people rather than take the responsibility themselves.”

3rd stage: Ask an open-ended question that incorporates the 1st 2 stages
E.g. “How are you ensuring that your sales staffs meet their goals and maintain a positive attitude?  How are you ensuring that your business continue to re-invent itself and take pro-active steps to grow?”

By now your prospect will be asking you, "What methods you have to get our sales staff win more sales?" And you'll get the sale.

By Andy Ng, Sales Coach with Asia Trainers, details at here.  Related articles

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