How I learned about layered sales questions
This past month I competed in the Intercollegiate Sales Competition (ICSC) down in Orlando, Florida with four others on the Purdue Sales Team. This competition was held by Florida State University and was an event that I will never forget because of how good of an experience it was.
Besides the fancy Disney resort, wakeboarding at Orlando Water Sports, and the live DJ by the pool, the trip was an experience that really improved my personal development and sales skills.
I came into Orlando very opportunistically and was ready for all the opportunities that could come out of this competition. I was also very nervous about competing because of the number of students that came to compete (over 50 schools) and the stakes were extremely high.
All throughout training and preparation for this competition with my sales coaches and the sales team, I was doing role plays for this competition and was not closing or succeeding at all. If I did not practice for this competition with my coaches and team, I would have not figured out what I was doing wrong.
I bet you are wondering what I was doing wrong. Well, I was asking the wrong questions…
I get into the sales questions strategy as you read on, but in preparation for this competition, I had no idea what I was doing. I was asking very surface-level questions that were all over the place and did not really matter to the prospect of the competition.
I was not getting anywhere in my discovery stage of the sales process and was having trouble selling my company’s solutions. So, with the help of my teammates and coaches, I realized that I was not asking the right questions. In fact, the questions I was asking made it a lot hard for me to uncover any of their pain points or problems in their business.
Once I realized I needed to fix my questions, I spoke with one of my friends on the Purdue Sales Team and he introduced me to the three-layer sales question strategy.
Once I learned more about this strategy in such a quick period of time, I used it in my role plays at the competition and actually saw myself improve in my rankings.
I spent my nights in Florida strictly role-playing discovery and asking questions with my sales coach. She taught me the right questions to ask, to allow me to easily uncover more information about their problems and pain points. This is when I started layering my sales questions and saw results.
Overall, the trip taught me how to ask the right questions the right way, put me out of my comfort zone, and allowed me to shake more hands. Now that you know more about my background in sales questions, let’s dive deeper.
What are layered sales questions?
Tiramisu cake. My favorite cake in the entire world and I am sure that’s the case for many others too. With each layer of cake, icing, and coffee flavor you uncover more tastiness than the layer before.
What do sales have to do with tiramisu cake? Well, let me tell you.
Your prospects are a lot like tiramisu cake. With tiramisu cake, there are so many delicious layers mixed with ingredients like icing, sugar, and cake batter. In a similar way, your prospect has many problems (layers) that you as a salesperson need to understand to best solve their problems.
Layered questions are a sequence of questions asked by salespeople in a very particular order in order to uncover the most about a prospect’s position.
It is almost like a “funnel” you are trying to go down when asking these questions. You start at the top of the funnel with very broad questions, and as you go down the funnel of questions, they start getting more and more specific, and as you keep building yeses, you eventually get to the end of the funnel. At the end of the funnel, is the biggest pain point of your prospect.
All of this strategic questioning just got you to your prospect’s biggest pain point. Once you have that information, you can now consult your solutions to that specific pain point that your prospect is experiencing. This strategy is very effective in giving you the right information you need in order to sell your solution.
How to use layered questions?
There are three main layers of questions that should be asked within a sales call which include:
- First level questions
- Second level questions
- Third level questions
First level questions
The first level questions are your foundation and the questions that will initiate a meaningful sales call. These questions usually answer the “what”, “who”, and “when.” These questions will give you an overview of what you are working with and the concerns their company is having, but nothing too specific yet.
The majority of salespeople only stay in the first level of asking questions and this is a big mistake and will cost you money. This is what I was doing at the start of my preparation for ICSC.
Here are some examples of the correct questions you could or should ask as you start consulting with your prospect.
Examples:
- What are some overarching goals of x company?
- Tell me about your relationship with your current supplier.
- What is your companies current x process?
- How do you budget for large capital expenses?
- Is there anyone else I should speak to that could have an impact on this decision?
Second level questions
Now it is time to add a little bit more sauce. After asking your first level questions, you should have a healthy understanding of your prospects current situation and the problems they are experiencing.
Instead of asking more first level questions, it is important to actively listen to what they say after your questions, and use that information to dig deeper and gain more information.
By asking deeper questions based off the information they tell you in your first level questions, that is second level questioning.
Now that you have a broader knowledge about your prospect, it is time to go a little deeper into your questions. Many of the second level questions you will ask will give you more of an explanation and evaluation based off of the first level questions.
Examples:
- What is x company doing to reach these goals?
- What is your current provider doing to help you get there?
- Have there been any challenges working with these suppliers?
Third level questions
You might think the second level questions have already given you a plethora of information, but it is time to go even deeper. This is arguably the most important level of sales questions because the questions become a lot more emotional and tactical and essentially make or break the sale.
The third level questions ask the “how”, and actually helps guide your prospect to their buying motivation. Majority of prospects buying motivation is going to stem from the desire to profit or the fear of loss. Furthermore, these questions assist your understanding of how consumers can benefit from your solutions.
You start to establish rapport with your prospective consumers as you start asking these third level questions. These are the finest questions to ask and will portray you as being caring, helpful, and collaborative. These questions are the best piece of the tiramisu cake. These are the questions you are going to ask that will get you to root of your prospects problems.
Examples:
- What is stopping you from hitting your company goals?
- How has this impacted your business?
- What is your company doing right now to improve this process?
- What happens if you don’t achieve x goal?
If you start using this sales questions strategy I am confident you will get more information out of your prospects and make it easier for you to close the sale.
That’s It!
I hope this blog gave you some helpful advice about asking the right questions. Sales is very frustrating if you do not ask the right questions the right way, or else you will not get any information out of your prospect and you will not know what to sell to them.
I would highly recommend practicing discovery before your calls in order to get familiar with the strategy and be prepared for your next sales call.
This strategy will give you the information you need to sell your solution and start closing many more deals.
I hope you got great value out of this and can use this strategy in your life or business. Remember to sign up for my newsletter on my website and keep coming back every week for new content.
Win the day.
Ciao.