The Scrambled Egg - a blog every sales professional should wake up to.

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I’ve interviewed lots of sales professionals in my career. I’ve already written about my 7 pet peeves when interviewing candidates. I thought on the alternative side I should write about some of the best questions I’ve heard from candidates. 

First and for most, it’s important for a sales candidate to remember the interview is just as much a discovery process for you as it for the interviewer. Regardless of how much you might need or want the job, an interview is your opportunity to make sure the company is the right match for you. If the interviewer treats the meeting as an interrogation then this might be your first sign it might not be a match. If a sales candidate has some control of the interview (by asking strong questions), this indicates this is how you run your sales meetings as well.

Here is a list of some of the best questions I’ve heard from sales candidates in an interview:

What does it take to be a top performer here?

This tells the interviewer you’re curious about top performs and emulates you view yourself as one as well. The interviewer’s answers will tell you what it takes to succeed in the job.

What characteristics do your top performers have in common?

Again, you’re telling the interviewer you have curiosity around top performers. If the interviewer doesn’t know the characteristics of their top performers - candidates beware. If they don’t know these traits, how can they facilitate the replication of them?

What’s the most common reason a sales rep doesn’t make it?

This tells the interviewer you’re not afraid of asking difficult questions. As the candidate, this will tell you if they know why reps don’t succeed. If they don’t know the reasons or traits a rep fails, how can they facilitate avoiding this in the future?

Tell me about your career path at the company.

We all love to talk about ourselves, even the interviewer. I love this because it tells me the candidate is good at getting me to talk and they will do this in their sales process too. It can also tell the candidate the path to management if this is what you’re interested in.

What is the most common objection you run into?

This is another example of displaying you can ask hard questions. It will also tell you a bit of what the job like on a day to day basis.

Tell me in detail about the training and resources available to the sales reps?

This tells me the sales rep has intellectual curiosity and is coachable. This will also give the candidate an idea of how well the sales team is supported.

What’s your management style?

This demonstrates you’re also looking for something that is a match for you. You’re not looking for just any old job. Top performers have their pick of opportunities and this demonstrates you’re feeling out the position as well.

Why are you hiring for this position?

This is another great example of a hard question. This will also tell you if the company is hiring because of growth or because they have a revolving door.

How did the sales team finish this past month/quarter?

This question tells the interviewer you too are looking for the company’s performance, just as they’ve asked for yours. Don’t be afraid to ask for specifics. How many reps were over 100%? How did the top rep finish?

An interview can be a nerve racking and exciting meeting. Make sure you’re prepared, bring a note book. Read up on the company and get curious. Start asking questions, take notes and think of the interviewer as a prospect you’re qualifying. Happy job hunting….

People love email templates. Free email templates are one of the most frequently downloaded offers from the HubSpot content library,  as well as my website, Sell Inbound.  I assume the people that download these offers are using them in a sales or marketing capacity.

There are a lot of people making personal connections online.  There are 54 million single adults in the U.S. and 40 million have tried online dating. There have been 40 million people in dire need of a great email template; something that catches attention and gets a welcoming response.

Sales prospecting and online dating are very similar in nature. Typically, you are sending a somewhat random message to an individual who is being inundated by similar messages.  Not the best position to be in. So that leads me to wonder...is there a universally successful approach?

Let’s take both of the interactions out of the framework society creates.  In both situations a human is approaching a human and asking for something. How do humans like to be approached?

• People love to feel special

• People love to talk about themselves

• People like to be in a position to choose

• People like to understand expectations upfront

Regardless of context, fresh introductions should take interaction down to a human level in order to build the best connections. The following framework should be used when sending an outreach email for the purpose of getting a new sales appointment, or a personal appointment.

Notice Something Relevant

People publish information about themselves, and chances are others have published valuable information as well. If you have a sales prospect on your hands, a LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google search should suffice. Also check out their company’s website and blog.  

If you are on the quest for companionship, someone of the opposite sex who is serious about meeting someone will give you all of the ammunition you need.

Be Interested - Ask Questions

Take time to put yourself in this person’s shoes. Be genuine and inquisitive. Ask questions that allow someone to elaborate about the things they are clearly interested in. On an initial outreach, one or two questions will suffice. Don’t make responding appear to be time consuming or difficult.

Wrap in Your Value

This is one sentence that says something about you as a person or explains why you are interested. In a dating sense, it should shed light on you as a person and a potential shared interest. For a sales prospect, it might describe your professional areas of expertise and a brief introduction to why you are reaching out.

Close for What You Want

People seem to have a bit of a sixth sense when it comes to outreach. Don’t disguise your intentions. In a sales situation, a typical ask is for 10 minutes on the phone to determine if further conversation could be mutually beneficial. In the dating game, I would recommend not closing on the first outreach, your goal should be to earn a conversation. Close in a later exchange after rapport and mutual interest has been shared.

Explore the benefits of taking time to be genuine in all of your interactions. By doing so you will not only create more opportunities, but you will build relationships that surpass your initial expectations.

Thanks Mike Pici for the blog article!

Liking these tips? Follow @KADScrambledEgg on Twitter for wisdom on #sales and #salesmanagement.

Many of us have been trained for years in sales that calling to the top is the right approach. I’d argue this tactic is now out dated and as sales people we need to change with the times. 

C-level execs have become skilled at blocking out unsolicited calls and emails. They have spam filters, caller IDs and gatekeepers to keep unwanted solicitations out. C-levels also have influencers which they will delegate projects to when they need something researched. Those influencers now have an abundance of information available to them when they want to look. For example, they have Google and their social networks to do their due diligence. C-level prospects are no longer finding out about tools and solutions by a cold call. This is why having an inbound marketing strategy is imperative to any company needing to generate leads.

This is not to say inbound marketing is the only way to penetrate a new account. If a rep is cold calling, it’s still best to call the C-suite and the next level below, essentially the influencer. The influencer below tends to have more flexibility with their calendar than the C-level and can make time for sales calls. If you can get the influencer bought-in they can more easily access and book the C-suites calendar than you can.

I’ve actually tested this theory. At my company, we deal exclusively with inbound leads. Most of frequently these leads originate from some type of whitepaper download or webinar registration. I took one rep, Alexndra Curtiss, as the experimental group. Every lead delivered to her, she didn’t call the influencer. Instead she called right to the C-suite.  In this instance, we know the company is looking to solve some type of pain (it’s an inbound lead so they found us by design when they were looking). We figured since the company was looking, we’d have a good connect and close rate with the c-suite. The control group was the rest of the team who continued to call the influencers who download content.

The results were dramatic. After just 3 weeks and about 100 leads we had to shut the experiment down. The experimental rep had set 1 appointment and nothing in her pipeline. The control group averaged about 18 appointments in the same time frame. While our sales cycle is about 60-90 long, longer than the experiment ran, we tracked to see if any revenue closed. Alexandra won 0 deals by calling exclusively to the top. Some could argue the rep and her sales technique may have played a factor. This could be true, however once back to calling the influencer she finished the next two months over 200%.

One thing we’ve found effective with inbound leads is to ask the following question, “Who asked you to gather information?” The ones who answer their boss, the CEO, the president, etc. are worth your time. If they say they are just looking, be suspicious but also be prepared they might not trust you enough to disclose details. If after several conversations you determine this is truly someone that is a tire kicker, move on.

I’m not arguing one should ignore the C-suite all together. Instead, realize an influencer is now a massive contributor to getting a deal closed. Here are the steps you should take to update how you work the C-suite and influencer in tandem.

1) Call the C-suite first.

2) Then the influencer. Tell the influencer “Oh coincidently enough, I just reached out to _____ this morning”.  Since you’ve already reached out to the C-suite, the influencer can’t play gatekeeper.

3) Work with the influencer through the sales process.

4) Update the C-suite on each step of the sales process regardless if you do or do not receive a response. This builds a relationship with them even if you’re not able to connect directly. You can do this through voicemails and emails.

5) Compliment the influencer in each update to the C-level. This avoids the influencer being upset or feeling you’ve gone around them.

6) By the time the influencer brings you to the C-suite, the exec should be well aware of you.

7) If the deal is to stall, gets side tracked, etc. it won’t be the first time you reach out to the C-suite.

Regardless of what you’ve been told about calling to the top, the technique is old. You can still sell by calling to the c-suite however you’ll need an unsustainable amount of leads to do so. Learn to work with influencers. Learn their job role, make them your partner in crime and turn them into champions. This is the most effective way to increase your closing percentage. 

Liking these tips? Follow @KADScrambledEgg on Twitter for wisdom on #sales and #salesmanagement.

My first job out of college was designing and selling complex, customized physical security systems. My second job was selling technology research and consulting services to IT executives.  What did these two roles have in common? In both I started out with zero knowledge of the subject matter. First it was fire safety code, control panels, and motion detectors followed by super techies listing technology priorities that I had never heard of before. While this lack of understanding could have hindered my pipeline in a major way, it instead forced the integration of what I consider a key play in a strong sales process – leveraging your internal resources.

Out of necessity, I quickly learned that while I sometimes had no clue what my prospects were talking about, there were a ton of smart people around me who did. Experience taught me that if I knew just enough to play Quarterback, I could match my prospect's needs with a resource that could not only help but could make a genuine connection and deliver true business value. The same positive results came when I would loop in my sales leadership and even the executive team. Putting my ego aside, I happily stood by and watched as my internal resources cinched a deal right up for me.

The moral of the story? Ask for help early and often and your bank account will thank you. Use every single tool you have at your disposal to get your deal done:

• Everyone loves to help sales people sell. Bringing in leadership, technical resources, or prospect peer roles within your own organization make your prospect feel like a VIP.
• Use executive connections as a carrot to be traded for a meeting with one of their executives if you are stuck at the influencer level.  
• Leverage internal resources to increase the velocity of the negotiation process while you get to stay good cop.
• Differentiate yourself from the competition; they likely are not creating custom evaluation processes on your customer’s behalf.
• Keep the conversation at the business value level. It is very difficult to get stuck in the weeds on a call when they are talking to an executive.

Pulling in resources is also a fantastic way to gain exposure for yourself at your own company. It is essential to prepare the asset you are leveraging thoroughly so that they are comfortable with the role you would like them to play and value they need to deliver. If you do your diligence and the necessary legwork to make sure the connection is a successful call, you will build your own brand awareness quickly.

Thanks Alexandra Curtiss for the post!

Liking these tips? Follow @KADScrambledEgg on Twitter for wisdom on #sales and #salesmanagement.

“When’s the deal coming in?” We’ve all had the manager who has asked the question. This question is ok, not great, and dangerous when this is the only inquiry a manager is asking. A sales manager’s job is to keep the reps accountable for their pipeline, but the other role responsibilities are to be a coach for the players on the team. 

A sales manager should be on the frontlines, meaning they should be on the phone or on face to face meetings with their reps 50% of the time. Working in tandem with your reps gives a sales manager more bang for the buck, essentially 1+1=3. 

1) Freshness – being on the phone or going to face to face meetings with my reps keeps me, as the manager, up-to-date as to what’s current in the market place.

2) Scalability – understanding what’s current in the market helps me guide the rest of the reps with the most up-to-date techniques and sound bites.

3) Trust – if my suggestions and coaching are fresh and can help my reps with current challenges, they trust me and my guidance. If I were to give them advice on outdated information they wouldn’t trust me to steer them away from obstacles. Working in tandem and seeing my direction first hand they will trust I’m working for their best interest.

4) More Is Better – two sets of ears are better than one. Having a rep paired with a manager tends to pick up more details that might have otherwise been missed.

5) Accountability – when I’m participating with my reps they are accountable to implement my suggestions. As their manager, I’m accountable for helping them avoid obstacles and closing deals.

6) Real time coaching – there are many techniques for coaching reps, including call recordings or pipeline reviews, however nothing is more impactful than immediate feedback. If a rep is given feedback or advice a week or even several days after the incident, the momentum can be lost.

7) Pipeline – by participating with my reps on the frontline, I have a better sense of the teams’ pipeline. I’m in the deals with them and know the intricate details of each one. This is much more effective than asking “when is the deal coming in?”

8) Close More Deals – working with my reps on their deals, simply closes more business. I have more experience than most of my reps and can teach them how to bring a deal across the finish line.

9) Share Best Practices– I’ve hired smart reps and they come up with savvy things on a daily basis. Anytime I hear a new technique or sound bite (which happens frequently), I can be assured it’s shared amongst the team as I’ll be the one sharing.

10) Recognition – many reps enjoy the spot light hence using charts and metrics to motivate them. They also enjoy being recognized amongst their team for coming up with new ideas. In addition, this fosters others to want to be recognized for their new ideas as well.

11) Multitasking – read the list above. As a manager, I don’t have a lot of time, but look at all the things I can do while on the frontlines. If I tried to do all these things separately it would take way too long. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

Being on the phones or in face to face meetings with my reps foster many positives, let me warn 50% is a well calculated percentage. If you spend too much time with your reps, you can inadvertently squash their independence and make them paralyzed. Any more than 50% of my time on the frontlines and there wouldn’t be time for the other parts of the job role. Remember it can be intimidating for a rep to get their boss on a call. Be very cognoscente of this and ask the rep to guide you as to what role they want you to play. A sales manager should perceive themself as “the coach” and not “the boss”. Happy coaching….

Liking these tips? Follow @KADScrambledEgg on Twitter for wisdom on #sales and #salesmanagement.

I began my sales career cold calling as many of us do. Cold calling is a difficult job that requires one to be resilient to rejection and builds a thick skin. We’ve all dealt with the gatekeeper and we all have techniques for getting around them. Even with inbound leads the gatekeeper can still be difficult to maneuver past.

I was young in my sales career when I learned one of my first lessons about gatekeepers from my mother. She runs a successful business and is well known in her industry. I was listening to her trying to call one of her clients and the gatekeeper was questioning my mother’s intentions.  My mother didn’t have time for the delays. When the receptionist asked my mother a question, her reaction set off a light bulb. She was short and curt with the woman on the other end of the line. My mom is extremely busy running the company and was inconvenienced by the receptionist’s inquisition and it showed. The gatekeeper wants to keep unexpected calls away from their boss, however they will be reproved for delaying important calls. My mother's tone was aparent she was not a sales person and she was put through immediately. 

What if I applied this same technique to my cold calls? I did and it worked. Here are the lessons learned to get passed gatekeepers:

1) You perception of yourself can be felt on the phone. Reps who think of themselves as inconveniencing the people they’re calling will be a dead giveaway to the gatekeeper. Instead, think of yourself as busy and important as this will be sensed.  

2) Tone is extremely important. When you’re cold calling your tone should demonstrate you’re authoritative. Remember you’re busy and you should be inconvenienced by questioning. This does not mean to be rude, it means be strong in your delivery. Being too friendly or meek is a dead giveaway the person you’re asking for is not expecting your call. For example, don't use the word "just" as it seems apologetic and pathetic. "I'm just calling to......." Throw it out of your vocabulary as someone who is taking time out of their busy day doesn't need to "just" check in. There is an important reason for your call. Make it sound that way. 

3) Brevity in conjunction with an authoritative tone is a winning combination. You should not ask the reception how they’re doing today. A busy person doesn’t have time to find out how the person who answered the phone is. The gatekeeper will also feel you’re trying to “build rapport” or buttering up to them to hopefully get past them. Many sales reps do this and this is annoying to them so don’t try it. It reeks of you being in sales. You should also not offer your last name or company name unless you're prompted to do so. If you offer this you're letting them know you're giving the additional information because you're not on a first name basis with your prospect. 

Just as you are in sales and your job is to get to the right people, the gatekeeper is just as skilled at sensing a sales call and deflecting it. Do something different and unexpected as the gatekeepers are just that – gatekeepers. Do something that is off their radar and hard for them to detect.  

Thanks Mike Pici for the Post-it idea!

Liking these tips? Follow @KADScrambledEgg on Twitter for wisdom on #sales and #salesmanagement.

It was early this past Friday morning when my friend and I pulled into the back parking lot of the Harvard Club. We’d been eagerly waiting for the day to come as we were excited to hear Sheryl Sandberg speak.  We entered into the back of the club and as we approached the lobby we could hear the hum of the crowd.

We checked in and headed for the breakfast buffet. The hall was packed and we had about 15 minutes before Sheryl was to speak. I nudged my way in front of the continental breakfast (I’m never one to pass up food) and was somewhat annoyed by the others around me. I typically don’t like crowds as I get anxious however I’m not shy to elbow my way around.

I was doing my usual ruses to move the others out of the way to insure I got my grapes, cantaloupe and pineapple before Sheryl went on stage. My bag of tricks includes wedging myself between people or standing a little to close behind someone taking too long. You really know you’re in my way when I turn just a little too fast and my purse knocks you over. I need a purse big enough for my lap top, but that thing comes in handy for many other uses. I realized this time was different, my antics weren’t working. The ladies around me weren’t having it. Instead of moving and being pushed out of the way, they were nudging back. At first my instinct was to be annoyed and then it dawned on me. What else did I expected? If there were ever to be a self-selected group of strong and driven women, this was it! Instead of being annoyed I felt proud (and a bit hungry). I took a deep breath, appreciated the moment and grinned. I was amongst my peers. 

I already had an important take-away before Sheryl even appeared. She’s igniting a movement. Talking about a subject that has been resting dormant for years and she’s capitalizing on it. She’s become the face of the next women’s movement and she owns it. As she entered the room she took the stage with a swagger. She was funny, confident and eloquent. She’s also authentic as one can sense she really cares about women in the work place. She’s reaping the rewards because she’s passionate about the topic.

While her speach was passionate and inspiring, my other take-away was not something she really touched upon. Leaning in is not going to be easy. Women can make it to the top positions and have career advancement but it’s going to be harder for us than men. Set the expectation with yourself that we’re going to have to work harder. The road will be bumping and there will be more obstacles for you than your male colleagues. Just get out there and do it, nudge your way to the top. Take your seat at the table and keep raising your hand. You can only depend on yourself to make it happen, no one is going to do it for you.

Thanks @pistachio for putting the group together!

Liking these tips? Follow @KADScrambledEgg on Twitter for wisdom on #sales and #salesmanagement.

After interviewing countless numbers of sales people I’ve heard some answers and seen behaviors I now consider pet peeves. I call them this because I’ve heard and seen them so many times they’ve become generic and annoying. Repetition can make anyone cringe; I believe this is the entire premise of Chinese water torture.

If you want to stand out in an interview please avoid these bland answers and basic mistakes below. If you’re currently doing any of the below realize you are fading into the crowd or actually standing out only because you’ve been the 10^th person that day to do or say the same thing.

1) Claiming You’re Number 1. Every rep talks about how they are the top rep at their current company. Please don’t tell me this, show me. I want to see awards, achievers trips etc. Only if you are the actually the Number 1 rep. If you are not the top rep, it’s ok to be 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, etc. I prefer honesty (see number 6). It will also help to clarify if your rank in relation to how many other reps.  If you’re 3^rd among 100 reps this is just as impressive as the Number 1 rep of 10 people.

2) “Building Relationships”. Please don’t say this in an interview as every rep feels as though this is part of their special sauce. You should have good people skills; this is a perquisite for the career. That’s like saying you have typing skills. Instead, tell me what you’ve done differently than all the other people interviewing for the job.  Think of examples when you did something really creative to get into an account or close a deal. “Developing Relationships” will also make my eyes roll.

3) No Notebook. If a rep shows up without a note book, it’s a clear indication of how detail orientated they are. It also shows me you fly by the seat of your pants. While this might work at your current position, any new job will require training and a learning curve. The interview is the first part of that process. If you’re not taking notes now, you probably won’t take training seriously and you’ll be a heavy tax to ramp up and train.

4) Generic Questions. Candidates who ask basic questions and aren’t really inquisitive indicates you’re looking for any old position. It could also indicate you’re desperate because if you had a lot of job options you’d really be trying to figure out which of them is best for you. Instead of the generic questions, get really curious about the job and ask those questions. Not in regards to compensation or culture, but more so about who is their top rep, what are they doing differently, etc.

5) Close-ended Questions: I’m paying attention to the content of your questions but I’m also paying attention to the format. If you ask close ended questions in your interview, this is a habit and you’ll do this during the sale. Open ended questions are Sales 101. The interview is no different.

6) BS. I purposely question a rep relentlessly until I get to the raw unscripted answers, the area where there is no way you could prepare for. I want to make sure you don’t feed me BS. I like if you’re quick on your feet and I also like a rep that will answer “I don’t know”. If I sense BS, then it’s not a fit. As a manager I won’t have time to clean up the messes you make in a sale.

7) Motor Mouth. If you talk the entire interview and you’re so long winded I can’t get my questions in, your prospects will feel the same way. Stop talking.

An interview can be nerve racking, but remember this is also your opportunity to find out if the company is a good fit for you as well. Think of you interviewing the company. This will help take the nerves away and allow you to be quick on your feet and get curious. 

Liking these tips? Follow @KADScrambledEgg on Twitter for wisdom on #sales and #salesmanagement.

As a manager of one of the fastest growing companies in Boston, I’ve hired and trained many new employees. Hyper growth can create unique challenges and one of them is ramping new sale reps to quick independence. This is extremely important as I have new hires coming in faster than I can train the ones hired the month previous. While this technique is efficient for a fast growing company, it's also helpful for managers at any company.

One of the techniques I’ve found effective is giving new reps a quota of mistakes. Yes, they actually get a quota of mistakes they need to make and I keep track on a white board close to their desk.  The first month they start the quota is high and each subsequent month the quota gets lower and lower. 

Here is why:

Faster Independence: We all make mistakes when we’re new; this is part of the learning curve. If mistakes are not encouraged to be made a new hire can feel they should hide them or cover them up. Embrace mistakes as they are great learning opportunity. By giving a new rep a quota of mistakes which starts higher, it encourages them to make blunders and to make them soon. This is important as most companies have a ramp up revenue quota that starts low. If a rep can make a lot of mistakes early, it’s more efficient as they learn it while their actual dollar quota is lower. The sooner they learn from these, the faster they’ll be independent.

Trust: Acknowledging the rep is new and allowing them to make mistakes builds trust between the new rep and their manager. The new rep will not feel the need to hide mistakes or cover them up. 

Shameless Transparency: The quota of mistakes is not shameful, it’s a given. Keeping track on a whiteboard and making it an expectation allows the new hire to feel a burden and stress lifted and they can embrace the learning curve.

Team Effort: Each rep hired and trained have all had a quota of mistakes. The existing reps want to help the new hire make their quota. They will point out where the new hire made a hiccup and add it to the white board. The existing hires will also tell the new hire how to avoid the pot hole next time.  

Scale: There is only one of me and more new hires than I can train on my own. Making errors public, encouraged and expected enables my team to coach the new hire. 

Coach: The new hire is now trusts the manager and is more likely to disclose the mistakes they’ve made. Now you’ll be aware of the error and this is the opportunity to coach them on how to better handle a situation going forward.

Perpetuity: A quota of mistakes is the gift that keeps on giving. It allows a coaching relationship to grow from the very beginning between a manager and rep. This information allows the manager to know how the rep learns, how they react and how they want to be coached. A manager can now utilize this information for the entire relationship and to continue fostering the reps success even when they have tenure.

Embrace failure in your professional career as it’s one of your greatest assets. Knowledge is power and it can only be gained by learning from your past. Then use it to continue to growing. So go out there and make a hell of a lot of mistakes. Write them down, ask your colleagues and manager how they’ve handled the situation and don’t make them again. Improve just a little bit each day. 

Liking these tips? Follow @KADScrambledEgg on Twitter for wisdom on #sales and #salesmanagement.

Some may think it’s best to ask a prospect, "What's your decision making process?" I’d argue this is opening a can of worms. I’ve found it is not a best practice to ask questions about their process when evaluating your products and services. When asking for such details you can inadvertently cause more problems and delay in deals closing. There are more effective ways to find what you need. 

Here are some of the problems you’ll face:

1) Asking the prospect what the decision making process for your product and services allows them to dodge the question. In other words, they know you’re asking because you want to know what it takes to get your product or service purchased. If they’re not 100% sold on buying what you’re selling, then they have the opportunity to add steps to buy time and/or be deceptive.

2) Sometimes the prospect doesn’t know, however they won’t disclose their lack of knowledge. Instead they will make up the process they think will happen and then they will carry this out. Since they don’t really know, they might unintentionally add more steps and more people in the sale who are not necessary.

I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t find out the decision making process. I’m saying by asking the particular question, “what’s the decision making process” is actually putting you at a disadvantaged.  Here are some alternatives:

1) Instead of asking about the process for getting your product or service approved, instead ask about something they’ve already purchased. Here are the questions you can ask in sequential order.

“What was the last product/service you were a part of bringing on board?”

“How quickly did you know you wanted it?”

“How much did you spend on ______ (insert name of product/service)?”

“Who else was part of purchasing _______?”

The prospect has now told you if they’ve been a part of a purchase before, how quickly they make decisions, how much money they’ve spent in previous purchases and who else makes decision with them.

By asking about something else other than your product and service will yield a more transparent answer. In doing so you’ll get the facts regardless of their decision or lack of decision to purchase your product and service. The prospect might not be aware they’re revealing information about the process in which will be needed for you. 

2) Another best practice is to tell the prospect the process, don’t ask. If you tell them the process, they will either have to agree to it or correct you. If they correct you, it means they know the process. If they don’t know the process, telling them leaves no room for them to add unnecessary steps and/or people.

Before you tell prospects what their process is, you should know it yourself. In order to do so, go through all your closed deals and look for similarities. For example, what job titles are always involved in the decision? If you find the CEO is always in some way involved in the DM process, then that’s who tell them you need. Tell the prospect you’ve been doing this a long time and you know every time a customer has purchased, the CEO has been involved. Only ask for 20-30 minutes of the CEOs time initially as it’s less intimidating for an influencer and more likely to get from a busy CEO. You may get some push back; remind them this is not how it’s usually done. This makes them feel like the exception to the rule and usually makes them rethink.

While you still need to know the decision making process, there are more strategic and methodical was of getting the information you need. The suggestions above can also be the shortest point from A to B. Asking the decision making process has good intentions however it doesn’t mean it’s efficient or effective.