We've all heard the saying that curiosity killed the cat, but curiosity doesn't kill sales. In fact, it's a valuable tool in the sales process, especially when it comes to prospecting.
We coach clients to get the prospect talking and then be quiet and listen. Maybe ask a few questions along the way, when needed, to better understand the prospect's situation and needs, but primarily let the prospect do the talking. We even have a 70/30 guideline to illustrate that the prospect should be talking more than twice as much as the salesperson. More than twice as much!
Now, I'm guessing we've all had a bad interaction with a salesperson who hardly let us say a single word. That salesperson is so excited about the features and benefits of their product that they go on and on about it, and then finally somewhere at the end, they ask you how that sounds. And by then, you've probably disengaged from the conversation because the salesperson failed to find out what mattered to you.
Sure, as salespeople we ultimately need a prospect to know about the features and benefits of our product or service, but that can happen in a conversational response. The official definition of prospecting is the process of figuring out who we can sell to. You can't figure that out unless you let them talk.
If you have a natural curiosity about what's going on with the prospect, it's easier to ask questions because you're really trying to learn something about their business. It's not about you; it's about them. You're asking questions to satisfy your curiosity and letting them talk.
Another way to explain this is with Sandler Rule #14: "A prospect who is listening is no prospect at all.”
As much as we would all like prospects to be thinking about us, they're not. They're thinking about themselves. If we engage in bad prospecting, we might find plenty of people to listen to our sales pitch, but chances are they're the wrong people. They're not engaged in the conversation at all.
Ever sat through a sales presentation because of a promised free gift? It's common for timeshares to use this approach and offer two free tickets to a local attraction or a free weekend stay at a local hotel if you sit through a 45-minute presentation about their timeshare. Most people are going to agree to invest that small amount of time to get the free item, yet most of them don't have the interest or the means to actually invest in the timeshare actually for sale. They might be listening (or pretending to listen), but they're the wrong prospects!
Instead of talking at your prospects, use your curiosity to get them talking by asking open-ended questions. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it has great value in prospecting and sales.
Crandall is the Principal of Sandler in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He works with business owners and motivated individuals to create and implement Professional Development Strategies to foster the growth of individuals, teams, and organizations.
