Why?
Assumptions during the sales process, are ultimate deal-killers. Sometimes you can get away with making a few, but I have often seen reps scratching their heads wondering why their prospect hasn't returned their calls after hours of discussion. During a recent closed lost review with a rep I work with, discussed by saying "I don't get it, Mr. Prospect said they were trying to grow the segment revenue by 20% and they needed a solution by next week. It's been a month, and they just told me they went a different direction!"
Personally I was a little confused myself, I asked if they had talked about goals, challenges, and timeline. I asked if the rep had discussed budget, and if their contact had the authority to make this decision. Yes, yes, and yes. All of the boxes seemed checked, so what happened here?
It wasn't until a conversation with my Sales Manager that I found a potential answer. I brought it up and explained the whole scenario to him.
He replied with "What assumptions do you think the rep has made?". Smart guy.
When I got back on the phone with the rep, I asked to discuss the recently lost opportunity again, but this time I had a different set of questions I had been wondering.
"Ok Mr Rep, you said the prospect wanted to grow segment revenues 20% and find a solution by the following week, correct? What is the significance of that 20% growth? Why did they iterate wanting a solution by next week? Is that timeline important for any reason? Why were they looking at your service as the answer?"
The more we talked, the more blind spots we found in the opportunity, all revolving around a central theme: Why?
Ultimately in Inbound Selling, and in any consultative sales process, we ask a lot of questions and typically receive answers. But are we asking why those answers matter? What's the real significance?
I would encourage anyone in a selling capacity to get to the next level of deal qualification by asking the "Why" questions. Getting to why will help you get to the next level in selling, and help identify the real value that can be brought into the relationship. It also helps you understand how compelling the sales process actually is, to rate the deal itself. Here are some examples below of ways to get to why:
- What is the significance of that timeline?
- How did you identify your growth targets?
- What happens if you don't hit that goal you outlined?
- Why are you looking into solutions to that challenge now?
- Why is getting to that growth target important?
- If you hit that goal, what is the outcome?
- If you miss that target, what are the consequences?
The best way to check yourself, and assure you are getting "Why" is to ask yourself one simple question throughout each sales process: What assumptions am I making?
