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L.J. Smith's new Bending Landing Tread is designed for jobsite fitting and installation on curved balconies or curved level runs. It eliminates the hassles of mailing paper templates and waiting several weeks for custom shaped landing tread. Product specifications: 5 1/4" width by 12' & 16' lengths; available in oak or maple. Read about the many features and benefits of this new product below.
L.J. Smith recently added stair risers and trim brackets with a prime-coat to the product mix. This factory prime-coat provides a superior surface for applying the finish paint coat. Primed risers are available in the 8" size by standard widths. Our brackets are crafted in two decorative styles. As always, both products are also available in many different wood species.
For a copy of our complete catalog, please contact your L.J. Smith salesperson, or call us at 740-269-2221.
One look at our unique catalog and you will feel at home with L.J. Smith. From our classic collection of beautiful stairway photos and simple steps for selecting components to our extensive product offering and take-off guidelines, we've made selecting and ordering stairway components as comfortable as being at home.
Our user-friendly catalog is organized in a very simple and logical layout to take the fear out of selling stair parts....
For a copy of our unique catalog, please contact your L.J. Smith salesperson, or call us at 740-269-2221.
This article is reprinted with permission from The Brooks Group
This is part two of a two-part series
Studies show that most people approach a buying decision with some level of anxiety. They really don’t want to have to make a decision. In fact, a prospect whose opening question is, "How much is it?" is very often looking for an excuse not to satisfy a need or want.
Your job as a sales professional is to help your prospect overcome their anxiety – their desire to avoid making a decision. The truth is, most often they really hope and rely on you to help them do that.
Far more salespeople talk their way out of more sales than they listen their way into. Salespeople who talk instead of listen tend to lose sales because they let their focus slip. They start thinking about what they want to have happen instead of what their prospects want to have happen.
There are two keys here:
- Ask the right questions.
- Listen to their responses carefully so that your next question keeps the focus where it needs to be – on the prospect and what they want to have happen.
For the purpose of this article, we’ll look at what asking the right questions involves by looking at several more tips you can use to ask the right questions.
5. Ask questions that help you pinpoint the dominant buying motivations. Buying motivations and needs are not always the same. Buying motivations have to do with desires, feelings, tastes, and so on.
For example, asking a prospect what kind of similar products or services they’ve used in the past will often reveal what kinds of products or services they like. If all they give you is a list, you at least learn what they like, or are familiar with. Often, however, people will talk about one or two experiences which were particularly well received. That knowledge will tell you exactly what benefits to emphasize most.
6. Avoid offensive questions or asking questions in an insensitive way. This may seem very obvious, but some salespeople make this mistake because they make assumptions about the prospect. Some questions can offend a prospect and cause them to back away from you. Some examples of pitfalls to avoid are:
? Don’t use leading or "setup" questions such as, "You do want your children to have a fair chance, don’t you?" What is the prospect going to say? "No! Let them tough it out!"?
? Nosy questions can be a real turnoff. All types of people work in all types of industries. Asking someone how they got into this kind of industry, for example, can get you marched right out the door.
? Sometimes your manner can be threatening. Instead of asking, "How much do you want to spend?" why not phrase it, "How much had you planned to invest?"
7. Start with broad questions, and then move toward questions with a narrower focus. Broad questions are usually less threatening and yield general information. Thus, they can help you get things rolling and steer you in the right direction. It’s also how the prospect tends to think. They may know, for example, they want your product/service but they don’t always know what specifics of your offering would work best for them.
Prospects who call us, for example, tend to know they’re looking for help in improving their organization’s sales, but they don’t always know the details of how our training programs are assembled. Why would they? It’s up to us to ask the prospect questions and find out what the best course of action is for them.
Not until your probing becomes more comfortable and picks up speed should you start asking more specific questions that allow the prospect to mentally take ownership of your product or service.
8. Ask questions that are easy to answer. Questions that require knowledge the prospect doesn’t have can often make a person feel dumb and reinforce their natural state of anxiety and discomfort.
Here’s a broad example; computer salespeople who ask a prospect what kind of memory they’re looking for usually get a blank stare or silence over the phone. Dell is very smart about handling this important – yet mostly confusing – aspect of picking a computer. Their salespeople ask, "What do you plan on using the machine for?" If a person says, "Gaming, video conferencing and media storage," the salesperson knows this prospect is going to need a boatload of memory. If the prospect says, "email, home file management and surfing the web," the salesperson knows a smaller amount of memory will work.
Try asking questions that don’t depend on the prospect’s technical knowledge. If they use jargon and technical speak that’s one thing, but just because you’re an expert doesn’t mean they are. The smarter you make your prospects feel, the smarter they’ll think you are and the better they’ll like you.
9. Use questions to guide the interview and keep it positive in tone. Some people love to ramble on and on, but your job is to use questions to skillfully keep the interview focused and moving in the right direction.
It’s always a good idea to avoid explosive subjects like religion, politics, race, and deep personal issues. Bonding on a personal level can help cement a sale but as a professional you want to keep the interview focused on the business at hand. Can you imagine, for example, going to a new doctor who immediately starts attacking the mayor of your city, and it’s someone you voted for? Remember not to make any assumptions about your prospects – let them reveal themselves.
10. Ask - then shut up and listen. The prospect can’t talk while you’re talking. Besides, you can’t learn while you’re talking. Don’t just get quiet and think up something to say next; listen to and analyze every word that prospect says.
Remember: You can’t talk people into buying, but you can listen them into it. Questions are your greatest selling tool. The better you become at asking questions, the easier it will become for you to sell.
The best way to open a sale is with a question. If you’re calling on someone, always ask, "Is this a good time for you?" And always ask a prospect, "In order to be of service to you, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
If they have the time, people will almost always answer "yes" to that second question. Whether or not that leads to a sale depends almost entirely on how good your follow-up questions are and how good you are at listening to the answers.
This is part two of a two-part series. Read part one in our November Newsletter. |
