Sales Productivity, Sales Techniques

The most underused question in sales

How many of your sales prospects are you waiting to hear back from right now? How many are stuck in your sales pipeline and you’re not sure what’s happening to the deal?

I have seen hundreds of sales pitches over the years. As the sales person is doing their best to remember every question from the needs analysis training or detail every feature of their product, they all miss this simple question

“What’s the best way to contact you?”

Right now I have 20 unanswered voicemails on my phone, the chances of me listening to them are slim.  I’m in and out of meetings all day, so the best way to reach me is by text message, I’ll respond quickly.

We have more ways to get in touch with our sales prospects than ever before, e-mail, phone, LinkedIn, instant message, twitter etc. People have more choice in the way they like to communicate, so don’t make life harder for yourself by guessing what works for them. Just ask this simple question and you won’t waste energy and time trying multiple methods.

An extra tip is to ask them what time of day they prefer to be contacted.  The world has changed and the ‘9-5’ is becoming rarer as companies adopt a more flexible approach to working, some people are at their desks at 7:30 am others work late, understand your prospects world.

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4 thoughts on “The most underused question in sales

  1. I also like to ask, “what time do you start your day. I find it productive to call people early when they start there work day.

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