Captain’s log, stardate 20161012

Do clients ever get annoyed by all those Why questions?

Sent by Jonathan Stark on October 12th, 2016

You may find that prospects sometimes get frustrated or confused when you launch into a Why Conversation in your initial sales call.

This can be caused by a number of things:

You’re talking to the wrong person (e.g., your contact is acting on behalf of the true buyer and simply doesn’t have the answers you need)
You’re rushing them (e.g., you didn’t let your contact completely brain dump before asking “can we take a step back so I can understand the big picture?”)
Your phrasing is off (e.g., you’re badgering your contact instead of expressing genuine curiosity)
They’re confused (e.g., you didn’t make it clear why you need to understand the big picture)
They’re defensive (e.g., you said something to make them think you’re digging for the budget rather than trying to understand their goals)
The work is low value (e.g., if the work is commodity labor, there’s little value to be uncovered)

To avoid these problems:

Make sure you’re talking to the right person
Don’t rush the client or cut them off
Be genuinely curious about their business (don’t just act curious)
Explain that you need to understand the bigger picture to make sure your piece will fit into the puzzle
Don’t mention value pricing or money at all (if they bring up money, deflect the question)
Position yourself as a premium option in your marketing and client communications to discourage price shoppers and grunt work

Have you encountered any of these problems during a Why Convo? Hit reply to ask question and/or share your story with the group :)

Yours,

—J

P.S. I interviewed Jeff Scornavacca for my forthcoming Ditch Hourly podcast to talk about (among other things) how he handles sales conversations with enterprise clients (he works with companies like Johnson & Johnson). Sign up here to be the first to know when it goes live: https://jonathanstark.com/podcast