“Asking an open-ended question can be really valuable in terms of your success.” – Jacquelyn Nicholson in today’s Tip 1268
What’s your thought about this?
Join the conversation below and check out the full interview with Jacquelyn!
Jacquelyn Nicholson on LinkedIn
Jacquelyn Nicholson on Sales Success Stories Interview
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today our Throwback Thursday series continues with 2 clips from my first interview with Jacquelyn Nicholson way back in episode 8 of the Sales Success Stories podcast. Have a listen:
Jacquelyn Nicholson: And then the last thing for me comes from the genesis of my career, where I wasn’t always selling. Before this, I used to be the person sitting across from you, Mr. Seller, to buy something. And for me, it came down to something I call “So what?” So I would sit there and I would listen to these vendors coming in to talk to me endlessly. And it was really to the point where I was sitting there as they blathered on and on and on about how fantastic their product or their service was. And I was thinking, So what? Do you even know what I do? Do you even know what’s important to me? And so for me, I find that that’s really a deadly mistake that sales professionals can make, is going on and on. And so I try to always think about what is the ‘so what’ or the ‘what’s in it for me’ factor for the prospective customers as well.
I think it really depends on the situation, but there are a few good ones. I used to work for this gentleman who asked the best questions that I called skin-crawling questions. So they’re the questions that make the prospective person, prospective customers say, “Oh, gosh, I didn’t think of that.” So a lot of times it could be, so what happens if you don’t solve this problem? So once you’ve uncovered the problem, so what are the consequences? So what happens if we don’t address this? Your open-ended questions are the most important, of course, I should have started with that. Don’t ask something that’s yes or no. If you can help yourself a lot of times you’ll need to know those things. But asking an open-ended question can be really valuable in terms of your success, in terms of what people will reveal, and then going a level deeper. So a lot of times, if they raise an objection, you can sort of soften that and come back with a question that’s a little bit challenging or that might uncover more information. And just don’t be happy with the first question. And the first answer, I think, is the way I do it.
Scott Ingram: For a link to my full conversation with Jacquelyn, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1268. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!