All sales coaches would have trained you on questions you should be asking during a sales presentation. I would talk today on questions you should never be asking. There are a lot of questions being asked that are simply stupid. They are actually hurting salespeople in the sales process and the prospects automatically turn off as soon as they hear these questions.
Let us talk about these 10 worst questions and ensure that you never ask them again.
“How are you?”
This is commonly used as a conversation starter in 95% of selling situations reflexively and it’s killing them. The prospect knows that you don’t really care how they’re doing. Most
“How can I help you?”
No one wants to be sold. The prospect immediately feels like they’re being cornered and being pushed into making a close. They go defensive and go into a shell.
“Do you have a minute?”
All of us know nothing could be sold in a minute. What it conveys to the prospect is that your time is not valuable. It only shows that you are lying and you lose all credibility.
You may instead ask-“Is this a good time to talk?”
“Can I set up a call so I can learn more about your challenges?”
This is one of the worst questions to ask as it shows absolutely zero value on the sales person’s part. Show some value through the quality of your questions. Then just set the logical next step to go deeper.
“Would you be interested if……?”
Whatever you fill in the blank, there is going to be a stupid question. Your objective during a sales call is not only to get the customer interested but also to uncover their challenges. You should be asking questions to identify the challenges that matter and then solving them.
“Are you the decision maker?”
This is way too direct and will never get the information you really need. Asking this stupid question will get you either false information or offending and pissing off your prospect. Instead, learn about their
“What can I tell you right away that would make you buy?”
This question is a high pressure and so transparent that it tells your prospect you are there to just sell him your product and you have no intent to help him satisfy his actual need.
“How could you not want this deal?”
You cannot push. You cannot shovel down your product in your prospect’s throat. Instead, make the prospect realize that your product will actually help them or take their business to the next level.
“Would you like some time to think about it?”
Delay kills sales. Lead the prospect towards a buying decision and close the sales then and there.
“Would you like a proposal or a quote?”
Close the sale without a quote. Get a commitment after you have properly qualified a prospect, take out the agreement and sign the deal.
Stop asking these stupid questions during a sales presentation. Instead, help the prospect uncover challenges, show how your offerings will actually solve them and then set clear next steps.
During a sales conversation, ask
- Intelligent questions,
- Smart questions
- Leading questions
- The discovery questions
- The multiple choice questions
- The redirect questions
