Did you call on the decision maker?
Where they unhappy with their current banker?
Do they have a budget?
Will you follow up next week?
Are you sure this is a client that we want to have?
Is there a way to get in front of the committee?
These are all questions I have heard sales managers ask their sales people during post call debriefing sessions. When our sales development experts, Mark, Chris or Walt, deliver a sales management session on coaching or a session on the "Art and Science of Asking Questions" they focus a great deal of attention on asking closed ended questions. They role play, they drill for skill, they work with sales people to develop a strong interview approach that uses the right questions, asked the right way at the right time. More times than not, the sales manager is there in the room listening to the same message and practicing the same stuff.
But, then it is time for the sales manager to coach the sales person and what happened in class is lost and closed ended questions are what get asked.
Why is this a problem? It is a problem for many reasons, but the one I want to focus on here is: Shadow of the Leader.
When you demonstrate a behavior to your sales people, there is a high probability that they will duplicate that behavior. If you tell them to ask open ended questions, but demonstrate closed ended questions, what they see gets done, not what they hear.
Make sure that, as you are coaching your people to successfully navigate through the sales process, you instruct them and coach them using questions but using the right questions the right way:
When you told your contact that you had to get to the decision maker, what did they say?
When you asked them if they were unhappy enough to leave their current banker, how did they respond?
Tell me about the budget discussions?
What was the discussion for follow up that included getting a decision instead of a think it over?
How does this prospect fit our perfect prospect profile?
When you asked who on the committee would tell her 'no' to making a change and then asked to get in front of that person prior to the committee meeting, what was the response?
Chances are that your sales person will tell you that they didn't ask these questions. This allows you to ask, "why not?"
After 3 or 4 meetings like this, your sales people will get the hint that maybe they should be asking these questions, they will ask the questions, they will have better qualified opportunities, close more business and you will have effectively coached your sales team to improve the skill of asking questions.
Helpful Links:
Sales Learning Center Demo
The Art and Science of Asking Questions Audio
Coaching for Success Workshop