You’ve probably heard the saying, “Telling is not selling” and that the key to sales success is to be a good listener more than a good talker.

Both of these points are true BUT they miss this key distinction: You need to ask the right questions in order to elicit the responses from your prospect in order to close this sale.

Here are  three specific questions to ask your prospect that will help you elicit your prospect’s buying criteria. You will know the deep, psychological reasons your prospect’s wants what you’re offering. Knowing this will boost your closing percentage and bank balance.

Here are the three simple, albeit powerful questions.

1. What’s most important to you in a ________?

This question helps you determine the conscious reason someone is thinking about buying a product or service like the one you’re selling.

It can be expanded by asking, “What are the three most important things to you in a ______?”

These are your prospect’s hot buttons and the benefits she is look for.

Here is a MAJOR, advanced sales point: The only benefits you should be talking about are the ones your prospect has specifically told you are benefits.

Read that again.

As sales people, we are taught to talk about the benefits of our product or service. This is true BUT a benefit is really only a benefit if the prospect says it is.

You will actually un-do a sales and bore a prospect if you start talking about benefits that don’t interest her.

This first questions tells you what to focus on.

2. What is important about that?

You want you’re prospect to go deeper and give you the reason why the benefit(s) she wanted are actually what she wants. In essence, she is telling you how to sell her.

3. To make sure I clearly understand, ultimately what would that (whatever your prospect’s answer was to question number 2) do for you?

Then you feedback what your prospect said to you using their words.

Strong stuff. Use it.

Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!

Dave Dee
The Psychic Salesman