Ask Powerful Questions During Inbound Meetings Without Interrogating Your Prospects | David Goings - 1440

The Sales Evangelist

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by David Goings, self-professed sales nerd and current SMB team lead at LogicGate.

David believes in making an impact in the prospect’s sales journey.

• Sales, at its core, should bring a positive impact to your customer’s lives.
• You might do that through your products and services. But also, sometimes it's just in the experience that you have with the customer.
• From an inbound perspective, you need to consider where the customer may be in the buying process. With an inbound conversation, the prospect may have already identified that problem internally.
• In an outbound conversation, you may have just pique someone's interest. But the prospect is still identifying the problem.

David’s Three Tips to Avoid Conversations Feeling Like an Interrogation

• Change your mindset. You need to come in and understand that your job is to help the other person, not to make a sale. You morally can't pitch products and solutions until you know the prospect’s current situation and goals.
• Set expectations for both you and your prospect. It all starts from humans wanting to know what's next. For any kind of business setting, especially a first conversation, ease the customer’s mind and let them know what will happen in the conversation.
• Bring a perspective. Young professionals have a hard time feeling they belong in the room. They're not an expert. But while they may not be an expert in their industry, they’re experts in buying technology, in their customers, and their customer’s stories on how we've impacted them.
• Here’s a bonus tip: ask layered questions to understand your customer’s needs. David uses the TED acronym: tell me, explain to me, describe to me.

David’s advice for the sales professional:

• The way we do things as sales professionals in the sales process can be the differentiator for us.
• Unpack and understand your “why” as a sales professional. If you can get behind your “why,” it positively impacts the customer.
• Read “Selling with Noble Purpose” by Lisa McLeod.

Want to get ahold of David? Reach out on LinkedIn (and be sure to congratulate him on his recent job change.)