Participants are coached through the basics of selling and given practical step by step guidelines to ensure the problems and dissatisfaction of the client are uncovered.
Specifically, participants will learn the OPEN Question Selling technique—an active questioning technique that helps sales people to gain commitment by solving business problems. Which is a very powerful approach for handling High value and major account sales OPEN consists of:
•Operational Questions establish a starting point to identify and understand your customers problems.
•Problem Questions expose dissatisfaction, reveal areas of difficulty, gather information and uncover customer needs.
•Effect Questions inquire about the consequences, implications or effect of the customers problems. They expand and explore the effect of your customers problems.
•Nail Down Questions help the customer identify and realize the importance the customer places on solving the problem.
Open® Sales Training workshop
What you will learn
Selling is the ability to get commitment from people or companies. It is the commitment to say YES to products or services. It is communicating for commitment to move forward in the sale. To get to this commitment stage you must possess certain skills and be able to use them well. These skills involve the ability to communicate and listen effectively, and uncover needs, problems, and distractions that hinder people in making decisions. Specifically, participants will learn the OPEN Question Selling technique—an active questioning technique that helps sales people to gain commitment by solving business problems. OPEN consists of:
• Operational Questions establish a starting point to identify and understand your customers problems.
• Problem Questions expose dissatisfaction, reveal areas of difficulty, gather information and uncover customer needs.
• Effect Questions inquire about the consequences, implications or effect of the customers problems. They expand and explore the effect of your customers problems.
• Nail Down Questions help the customer identify and realize the importance the customer places on solving the problem.
Who Should Attend?
All Salespeople
Duration 2 Days
How you will benefit?
Participants are coached through the basics of selling and given practical step by step guidelines to ensure the problems and dissatisfaction of the client are uncovered. Specifically you will benefit by:
• Getting commitment from a buyer
• Handling objections effectively
• Overcoming the indecision of a buyer
• Strategize key accounts (80/20 rule--80% of business comes from 20% of clients)
• Understand key players and their role in the organization
• Understand the actual business of the account and how it relates to your product/service
• Learn how to handle competition
• Communicate for commitment at all levels within the organization
Key Points
Value selling, how to differentiate and position your products and services
Account penetration, developing the key accounts that will generate 80% of your sales
Sales tactics and the 80 / 20 rule
Using OPEN to determine, and clarify your client’s needs
Post evaluation—on-site field visits with all sales reps
Personal Selling Power Book—published by McGraw-Hill March 2007
Individual CD-Rom – Collaborative Selling.
Allows sales person to continue and refresh their skills on a daily basis (optional)
TRAINING OUTLINE
Day One
OPEN Sales Technique
OPEN is an active questioning technique that helpssales people to gain commitment by solving business problems. It consists of:
Operational Questions
Probing Questions
Effect Questions
Nail Down Questions
Operational Questions
The purpose of operational questions is to establish a starting point to identify and understand your customer’s problems. Skilled sales people selectively investigate areas of potential problems and dissatisfactions.
Your customers buy because they have needs. The clearer you make the needs, the more likely you are to sell your services.
If your customer is totally satisfied with his or her existing situation, they have no needs and will not buy from you.
When your customer is not totally satisfied with his or her existing situation, there is an opportunity to identify problem areas and develop needs. In order to do this effectively, ask OPEN questions to investigate appropriate details of the customer’s existing situation.
Probing Questions
The purpose of probing questions is to expose dissatisfaction – they reveal areas of difficulty or dissatisfaction your customers hare experiencing, gather information and uncover customer needs. These problems, which we call Implied Needs, must be developed into Explicit Needs for your services.
Inexperienced sales people are hesitant to ask Probing questions. They fear that probing for dissatisfaction may annoy the customer. By knowing WHEN to ask Probing questions you can reveal implied needs without upsetting the customer
Day Two
Effect Questions
Effect questions expand and explore the effect of your customer’s problems. They inquire about the consequences, implications, or effects of a member’s problems.
The average sales person asks less than one Effect Question and tends to jump straight from the first statement of a problem into describing the product’s advantages. This reduces the chances of a sale because the customer’s need is still undeveloped.
Nail Down Questions
Nail down questions probe for explicit needs and identify the importance the customer places on solving a problem.
Few sales people ask Nail Down Questions at the optimum point of the sale. If asked too soon, the customer’s lack of clarity about problems prevents you from effectively developing a real desire for solutions.
At the other end of the scale, many sales people begin asking Nail Down Questions too late. They wait until after they have described their solution and only then do they try to generate an appetite for what they have offered.
Additional Materials Available
OPEN Question Selling book published by McGraw-Hill
OPEN Style Laminated Handout
Extensive Role playing is an integral part of this Training Course
TRAINER
Sarah Louis is a graduate of St Mary’s University and has since distinguished herself as a leading facilitator. Over the past 15 years, she has taught companies such as GE Finance, United Airlines, MB Financial Bank and Motorola. She has also taught in Universities such as UCLA Anderson School of Management and Duke University Fuqua School of Business.
COMPANI E S SHE TRAINED I N T H E PAST YEAR INCLUDE
Apple Computer
Bank One
Credit Agricole
Caterpillar
Cemex
Computer Associates
Curves International
Drake Institute
Heineken
Overnite Express
State Farm
TAP Pharmaceuticals
The Princeton Review
US Foods
Vodafone
Participants get the McGraw Hill Bestseller
OPEN® Question Selling Book
