079 | How Asking the Right Questions Can Shorten the Sales Cycle and Lead to Better Results

Have you ever wanted to peer inside a potential customer’s mind to understand how he or she makes a buying decision? Have you ever wondered what key questions a prospect asks himself when deciding whether or not to buy your product or service? Do you wish you could crack the code on how a customer thinks so you can shorten the sales cycle and achieve the business results you’re after? In today’s episode I discuss a few of the common misconceptions salespeople have with regard to their prospects’ buying and decision processes – and how to develop the skills necessary to uncover a buyer’s real motivations. Plus, I'll be weighing in on how businesses get it wrong when describing what the customer's buying cycle looks like, and how you should look at it instead. Listen in for those topics and more on this special solo edition of Grow My Revenue. Listen to this episode and discover: · How to glean better insight into the sales process in order to achieve better results. · The types of questions you should be asking during sales conversations. · How to prepare for a sales encounter in order to accelerate the sales cycle and stop wasting time on bad opportunities. · And so much more… Episode Overview I lead workshops all over the world and have trained thousands of CEOs and sales execs on how to achieve better results in business. One of the questions I get asked all the time by salespeople is about how they can encourage and facilitate faster buying decisions from prospective customers. In other words, they want to know how to get to the sale faster. The trouble is, the way businesses think about the sales cycle is all wrong. In fact, in most cases, it’s a complete waste of time. Today, I’ll show you a better approach to the buying process that can actually shorten the sales cycle and lead to better revenues. You'll learn: · How to uncover the truth behind a prospect’s motivation to buy. · The three key questions you should be able to answer in every sales conversation (answering these questions is nearly guaranteed to shorten the sales cycle every time). · Why following a script can undermine a sale. · What top performing salespeople do that others don’t. When you listen in, you'll hear the types of questions not to ask if you want to see better results and what to ask instead. You'll also hear how the old methods of sales no longer work, and the specific steps to follow to have more productive, insightful sales conversations on this edition of Grow My Revenue. For full show notes and other resources, please visit: http://www.ianaltman.com/podcast/ian-altman-asking-right-questions-shorten-sales-cycle/