If I took 100 sales people into a room and asked them what is the most important sales question to ask, I'd have quite a debate on my hands.
Surely asking what the purchase criteria are, would be the most important.
After all, how can you fashion a sales strategy without knowing what the customer is looking for? This must be THE question because it defines who the customer will decide on the most acceptable option.
On the other hand, you must know the budget that has been established for the sale in order to ensure that your proposal is either in the range or a persuasive argument for the delta can be provided.
Is the budget firm or a guideline? How are the individual vendors going to be compared, since often solutions proposed can differ considerably? I can hear another sale person submitting that she would think that knowing the decision makers and the process would be crucial to influencing a sale in your favor.
Many a sale has been lost because the key decision makers had not be accessed and persuaded.
Another would be adamant that clearly knowing the time frames involved in the procurement was the question he would ask.
All good questions, for sure; essential in fact.
Any basic sales training methodology would surely include each of these questions.
The answers to purchase criteria, budget targets, vendor comparisons, decision maker identification, decision process and time frames are all necessary if you are going to ultimately be successful.
But the most important sales question to ask is none of these.
It is the question many new and some seasoned sales people fear asking.
It is the question that requires a directness that often is absent from many sales efforts.
This question actually can be asked in many ways but basically it always comes down to asking For the Sale! Some are proponents of asking a direct yes or no question such as 'will you be purchasing from us?' Others are reticent to ask a question that can be answered so simply and decisively.
They prefer something like this: 'should I schedule the shipment for next Tuesday or Thursday?' Either way ask it.
Why? The obvious answer is to get the sale.
But, it is not that simply really.
Asking for the business can often be a qualifying question as well.
A negative response can be expected for many reasons; the most obvious one is that you have lost the sale.
More often it can be an indicator of indecision, changes in original criteria such as budget, shift in decision makers or decision process, or the inability to overcome an issue with your solution.
For the seasoned sales professional this is an opportunity to re-qualify or reposition a sales tactical plan based on the response.
When a prospective client tells you they are not prepared to vote in favor of you alternative, knowing the reason is very valuable.
It provides an opening to resolve their conflict or concerns by addressing them immediately and to their satisfaction.
If you did not ask for the business you would never have known about these issues until you learned of the success of your competitor.
Too late by then.
So, when you ask for the business, do so as a qualification maneuver.
If the answer is positive, congratulations! If negative, regroup, adapt and address the reasons.
You may find that the response to the most important sales question to ask can, more times than not, eventually have a positive outcome.
If you do not ask, do not be surprised!