By the Ocean
Cloudy 74 Degrees
11:32 a.m.
One of the most valuable parts of my three month career as a car salesman in the desert of Arizona is that it came with some pretty effective sales training.
Years later, I would discover the work of David Sandler, which still, to this day, offers an innovative, powerful and fearless approach to selling that I don’t see very often.
The car lot was my first experience with learning how to use the power of questions in different ways.
These days, I’m not interested in someone who wants to hide from the truth. I’m here to discover the truth so I can understand, as quickly as possible, whether I should stick around or be on my way.
But that’s not how I started. I started as a people pleaser. For that guy, hearing the word NO was not a welcomed thing.
So… that meant I had no trouble doing everything in my power to keep my hope alive that a prospect might buy. That means, getting to the truth about the prospect wasn’t something I wanted to do.
I just wanted to be liked.
The way to get to the truth with a prospect is to ask better questions.
Compare these two questions I used on the car lot:
“Would you like to put down a deposit with a credit card?”
“What credit card do you want to use for the deposit?”
The first question does nothing to get to the truth about whether or not the prospect is serious about buying. That question is an invitation to hide.
The second question forces the truth to come a little more out into the open.
Life is short, get to the truth.
It should be no secret to ANYONE that your business is about exchanging money for solutions to problems.
So don’t act like it. Don’t waste your time, don’t waste their time.
What’s the shortcut to get the truth from a prospect?
Just have the guts to ask for it.