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"ER - AH"
February 20, 2008
The other night my wife and I were at a restaurant with another couple. The waiter approached the table with a nice greeting and then asked “Can I start you off with a drink? Would you like a mixed drink "er" ice tea "er ah" coke?” He went all around the table asking each of us would you like this "er" that "er ah" that. The "er ah" question has to be the most aggravating question in the world. Yet, the same habit is dominant in many salespeople.
I consistently hear salespeople asking questions like; “Is this for a special occasion "er ah" birthday "er ah" anniversary?” “Would you like to get her a bracelet "er ah" necklace "er ah" ring?” “Is this the first place you have shopped "er ah" have you been looking around?” “Were you looking for this "er" that "er ah" that?” Not only are these types of questions aggravating to the customer, they also are very closed ended and don’t allow for the customer to elaborate.
There is nothing more important in sales than getting the potential customer to speak. It is essential that you get them to tell you their wants, needs, desires, hopes and dreams. The information you, as a salesperson, can get from the customer may be the difference between selling additional items, one item, making a sale or not. I will stress again how vitally important it is to get your customer to speak and then for you to LISTEN to what the customer has to say. The customer will tell you what they want, why they want it, and clue you in on any potential add-on items. They will let you know how and when to close the sale, how to handle an objection, their anticipated budget, what they don’t want, what they have had in the past etc. etc. All you have to do is ask the right questions.
The right questions are open-ended questions that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”. Every time you hear yourself or a fellow salesperson say “er” “ah” a closed ended question was just asked, I suggest you reword the question!
www.iastraining.com
Posted by Brad Huisken on February 20, 2008 | Comments (0)
