Sales 101 - Probing

Keep in mind, you cannot make someone buy something they don't need (although that appears to be the universal fear from the general population, regarding sales people), so you have create a necessity in their mind, for what you are selling. of the best ways to increase your sales results, is to increase the amount of probing you do. The more you know about what your customer is looking for, the more you can tailor you sales pitch to their needs.



Do you need to increase your sales and add to your company's revenue? Of work you do (that is probably the main reason you became a sales professional to start with).

What is Probing?
It is basically asking questions of your potential customer, to find out what they are doing now, or how they use a sure product, or what they like about a product, or what they would change about a product. Any questions that get them to open up and start a discussion, so that you can learn as much as feasible about how to position your product for them, in the best way feasible. The more questions you can ask, the better chance you will uncover issues they are having with their present product or method. When you uncover a controversy, then you have had them create a necessity in their mind. If your product can fill that need, you have a great chance to make a sale!

Asking questions is the best way to gain the knowledge of what is most important to them, but make sure to ask as plenty of open-ended questions (questions that cannot be answered by a simple yes or no response) as feasible. For example: In lieu of asking in the event that they like the widget that they are presently using, ask what they like about it, or ask what changes they need to make, that would make it function better for them. If a customer tells you that they would change the color from red to green, for example, and your product is green, than you have the ideal entry to show your green product and make the sale. Of work, it probably won't be that simple, but you don't know their hot buttons until you Probe.


Probing includes listening skills.

There are numerous reasons that somebody buys something; cost, quality, status, desire, cannot get from present supplier, like the rep, company reputation (the list can go on and on), but unless you ask your customers probing questions, you are not going to uncover what is important to them (unless you stumble across something inadvertently).

You most likely are not going to be able to fill a necessity each time you talk to a feasible customer, but by utilizing Probing questions, you have increased your chances of making a sale exponentially.

Keep in mind that asking Probing questions is great, but it won't mean anything unless you listen to your potential customer's answers. Make definite to give your customer time to answer before you jump in with a solution to their issues. That is a common mistake for sales people to need to show how lovely their product is, but by cautious listening, and waiting, you might uncover other needs that you can address, also.