PART 1:

Most Prospects we call on have already been called by many other Salespeople. Unfortunately they've also been asked the same basic Qualifying Questions many times before. If you appreciate that most people are creatures of habit, you’ll understand that most of these Prospect have developed Scripted Answers to these Scripted Questions. Unfortunately these Answers aren't always the whole truth and nothing but the truth especially if you accept their first response. A great Tip to get these Prospects off of their Script (plus help us to become a better listener) is to start using Continuation Phrases. As soon as the Prospect is done answering each Question, immediately say: "Go on" or"Please continue" or"And then what happened" or "Tell me more" This will get them off of their Script and requires that they explain, justify and/or enhance their initial response. The odds are that whatever they say next is usually much closer to the truth than their first answer or comment. This is also a great Technique to use with the “Whales”. These are people with extremely deep pockets that normally “Hold their Cards close to their Chest”. In other words they give you very short 1 or 2 word responses which makes it difficult to properly Qualify them The use of Continuation Phrases gets them to open up and become more talkative.

PART 2:

In Selling 101 we learned about Open and Closed End Questions. Although Open Questions are better than Closed, there is a better and more effective way to gather information. You see if we need to find out 5 to 10 things during Qualifying, it can end up sounding like a FBI interrogation with one Question after another. After all, Question have a tendency to pry, prod, and probe and can be very irritating. Instead, the Super Stars use Instructional Statements. They are actually direct Orders however they come across as much more conversational and much less confrontational. Start using;"Tell me about . . ." or"Bring me up to date on . . ." or"Share with me how . . ." You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn to both you and your Prospect will start to enjoy the Qualifying process a whole lot more, plus you’ll start gathering more and better information in order to be able to fill their needs.