Do you have good answers to these three questions?

          The favorite part of any sales training workshop is the “Understand” phase.  This is the part of the day where we learn how to get better at asking questions.  As good as we think we are, we can always get better at the discovery phase of the selling process.  I call it “Understanding” as I think that describes exactly what we are trying to do: Understand how our targeted customer makes decisions.  The reference to “Targeted Customer” means your ideal or average customer.  For example, in the Midwest, it’s common for the targeted customer to be a 1200-acre corn, beans, some wheat/pasture with maybe some beef. 

          To kick off this session, I like to ask the group these three questions.  How they answer them, tells me a lot about how well they know their customers, their products, and even their industry.

Question #1:  How does your targeted customer make decisions to buy your products?

          This question is absolutely step #1.  As salespeople, we need to be students of our customers.  We need to know their buying process.  While I teach the selling process, I remind attendees that no one wants to be in your selling process.  However, they are in their buying process.  If they own land, they have a fertilizer, seed, tractor buying process.  They may not think of it that way, but you need to.  If you can’t answer this question, then ask your best customers.  Take five minutes on your next sales call and ask them how they make major decisions around your product line.  What steps they go through, etc.

          There’s a famous adage that says, “Nobody likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy”.  Instead of putting someone in your funnel, take a short trip from your mind and get into the mind of your targeted customer.

Question #2:  What motivates them to buy, or not buy?

          “Money! Price!” someone in every workshop likes to shout out.  As a sales trainer, everyone expects me to reply, “It’s never about price…..sell value…..”  At which point, I let them know they are right.  Apples to apples it is price.  However, it’s our job as salespeople, as marketing teams, as product line managers, to do everything in our power to make our products oranges in an apples-to-apples world.  We are in agribusiness, which is generally regarded as a commodity business.  You will fight your whole career as a salesperson to differentiate, which you can do in a lot of different ways.  However, I think one of the best techniques is to differentiate on those motivators that your targeted customers have.

Question #3:  What key pieces of information do you need to know to sell them? 

          Your products or services have some form of ROI (Return on Investment).  They reduce costs, increase yields, save time, etc.  To arrive at that ROI, you need to know key pieces of information from your targeted customer.  This could be break evens, current yields, number of hours they are spending on tasks, employee costs, etc. 

          Often times, when we role play in workshops, salespeople struggle with what to ask or how to ask about it.  To get better at this, sit down with someone on your internal team.  Find someone who really knows this information about your targeted customer.  Get a baseline of typical answers to these questions.  Then, when you are out there in front of a prospect and you start asking these questions, you have a pretty good idea what the answers should be.  For example, if you and the others on your team feel like it takes about $600 to plant an acre of corn and yields average 180, then breakeven is about $3.34/bu.  You can do this same math for almost any product.  Some may require the time component.  Knowing how long it takes a producer to haul a load of grain at harvest and who actually drives the truck are key elements when you are originating grain. 

          As we end this phase of the workshop, the best part is always that revelation that many attendees share.  Recently, a salesperson said, “Wow, I feel like I’ve been doing it all wrong.”  Of course, I replied, “What do you mean?”  They went on to explain that they would simply make a sales call on a prospect or even a customer with no agenda unless there was something new coming out or a promotion.  While there, they would just talk, connect, and basically ask if they needed anything.  If not, they moved on to the next sales call.  We discussed the importance of connecting with customers, but the expectation is that you are adding value to this customer’s life.  To do that, the pure socializing has to give way to a sales approach that helps the customer.  I’m sure his results are going to improve dramatically as he starts asking better questions.

         Give it a try today.  If you’re a salesperson, ask yourself how you would answer these three questions.  If you’re a sales manager, I think these would make great meeting discussions.  Ask them today!