Conversational Selling Skills – Developing Your Brief Commercial

The second step of the sales process it the most important…Asking Questions. Your sale is made or lost based on your ability to ask great questions and listen actively to the answers. But before we start asking questions it’s important to gain the right to do so.

When a prospect agrees to meet with you, it’s implied that you’ll be asking questions, but I believe it’s important to be sure. The best way I know how is to be sure of your right to ask questions is to get your prospect to ask you a question, which you then answer. If they ask you a question, and you answer it, you have the right to ask questions too!

Once you’ve started to establish rapport with your prospect (see last week’s post) it’s time to ask, “Would it help if I tell you a little about my company?” The natural response to that question is, “Yes, please do.” Your prospect agreed to meet with you, and they now think you’re going to give them a presentation…but you’re not. You’re going to answer their “unasked” question (“What is it about your company? Why should I do business with you?”) with your brief commercial, also called an elevator pitch, thereby gaining the right to ask as many questions as you like.

To develop your brief commercial you should be able to answer:

• What do we sell?
• Why do people do business with us?
• Even though we’re not the least expensive option, people choose to work with us because…

Once you’ve got the answers to those questions you can then write your brief commercial. If should be short (it’s called “brief” for a reason) and when you give it the prospect should have a basic understanding of who you are, who your company is, and how you help people/organizations like theirs. The focus should be on the benefits of doing business with you. For example, “Jeff Goldberg & Associates is a sales coaching and training firm. We work with companies like yours to help you achieve measurable and sustainable sales increases.” You’ll need to “flesh it out” a little further, but no more than 30-60 seconds. When you deliver your commercial it should be crystal clear…they should understand what you bring to the table and how you may be able to assist them. NOT the details of exactly what you’ll do for them, but a general idea. Once given, you can then finish by asking your first question, and follow that with as many questions as you need to ask so that you have a solid understanding of what they’re looking for. We’ll talk more about questions next week!