11 Questions Sales People Rarely Ask and Should – Part 1

In a recent post I mentioned about being like George Clooney (or any actor for that matter), knowing your script / pitch, and using questions to get your sale moving forward.

Here are the first of 11 question that rarely get asked, but should, and some tips on why you should use these when you go out on your first call.

1. Have you ever advertised before? Why would we want to ask this type of question? It’s no use working with someone that has not used a medium to promote their business. It also allows you to educate your client on the particular strengths and benefits your medium might bring. Usually you do that at the end, when  you have got more information on their advertising preferences.
2. How would you describe that experience? What did they like about it? This is getting inside the first question – get them to be positive about their advertising experience.  You will pick up clues on why they bought.
3. Is there anything you would do differently? – This question is better than, “what didn’t you like about your advertising campaign?” . If you ask it this way, they might give you clues that you can present as solutions to these problems. So listen carefully.
4. Are you advertising consistently? There is a saying that repetition builds reputation. Consistency of advertising and promotion is critical. Many promotions work in 6 week cycles. In other words, sometimes it might take a few weeks to get a promotion going, and shutting it off simply stops the momentum.
5. Are you using Call to Action (CTA) or Image advertising? Radio is good for specific promotion, press price point, TV branding – find out what their preferences are.
6. Can you give some examples of previous campaigns? This also gives clues, shows you are interested and give you an opportunity to see what the level of spend might have been. It might allow you to see if they are CTA or Image inclined.

Stay tuned for the others tomorrow. While you wait for the rest, think about making these a part of your sales script, your patter.

PHOTO CREDIT – crystaljingsr

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