I let him finish and then asked, “What is the point of your presentation?”
He thought, and said, “To get the prospect to define his problem in your presence.” Usually the best service we can give is to let the prospect focus to define her problem. A side benefit for us is that everyone who came before is no longer qualified to solve that new definition.
He then said, “As a matter of fact, I made a list of ten questions I was going to ask…I only asked four.”
We discussed that and designed the single question that he thinks will get the whole story out, which most often leads to buying his offering. In artillery, you bracket the target, throwing one short and one long. Except the really good guys. They like to put it down the chimney first time.
He has a trade show next week where he can ask his question to between 60 and 100 good prospects in three days. He said, “Do you think I should spend more time cold calling?”
Really good guys never let up.
What does this remind you of?
Please come to
How To Get More Value From Your Existing Resources
Tuesday, October 19th, 7:15am to 8:30, Intelligent Office, Rockville, or
Championship Leadership in Resource Constrained Markets
Wednesday, October 20th, Noon, Mount Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce, www.SalesLabDC.com/leadership
Great question for a trade show to get the conversation going. Also for a face-to-face with long time client.
ReplyDeleteFrom another direction, a good question to ask is "What's the one thing/feature/service/etc. that would make you smile even when no one is looking?" - to get to what the customer needs NOW.