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June 02, 2016 at 07:03 AM
“The person who gives answers before understanding the problems is very foolish.” — John C. Maxwell
Have you ever felt like you delivered a powerful and effective sales presentation only to realize that it did not connect with the prospect? This has happened to me on several occasions. I came into a prospect meeting ready, energetic and full of answers. Unfortunately, I later realized that my answers did not address the prospect’s problems.
If I asked you, what is the most important information to understand when you are meeting a prospect for a sales appointment, what would you say?
Typically, I hear answers like, “Product knowledge, features, benefits, competitive advantages, service philosophy, and more.” These aren’t necessarily bad answers.
However, none of this information has any impact or carries any value if you don’t first understand the prospect, their situation, and their perspective. Building solid rapport is the foundation of every great relationship. Most sales producers know this, yet they still miss the point.
Great communicators invest 90 percent of their time, energy and effort not in discussing what they can offer, but in how they can better understand the person or business they want to serve. If you want to succeed in building great business relationships, and this goes for personal relationships as well, you must be open and willing to see things from another person’s point of view.
I made this mistake countless times in my sales career and still fall short today. As a teacher and trainer, I often feel like I need to jump in with my “perfect” answer for a prospect or client even before I fully understand their needs.
Instead of listening, asking a question, listening more, asking more questions, and listening again, I keep falling into the trap of asking a question only so I could answer with a benefit, feature or advantage that I had already fully prepared to deliver.
This is not to say that you don’t need to be prepared. You should be prepared. But first, you must start where the prospect is.
Inventor Charles F. Kettering said, “There is a great deal of difference between knowing and understanding. You can know a lot about something and not really understand it.”
