[715] Probing for the Why

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the authentic Persuasion show. On this episode I want to replay part of a previous show. Maybe you heard the original full length episode and this could be a great refresher and reminder. Or maybe this is your first time hearing this content and the timing could be just right to help you leverage authentic persuasion today in your role, no matter what. Here's to your success. This is the authentic persuasion show. [00:00:24] Speaker B: You it if you are a manager or a leader and you're listening to me right now and you're thinking, hey, I have that. Like if you've probably because I've seen this myself many times with teams that I've led or ones that I've been brought into, where leadership is frustrated by the fact that their salespeople aren't asking questions deep enough, aren't asking enough, aren't going down the right paths, that somebody could go down to get more information and they're definitely not doing it as well as that leader would do or used to do when they were on the phone. It's most likely this kind of scenario because they just don't know. They need some more training and they need help because they don't understand the point of the questions and they're afraid of that worst case outcome. So there's definitely things to work on there. It is something you can change. I've seen it before. I've seen many salespeople go from being afraid to asking questions to just being a probing rock star in what they're doing. So the key is we want to be asking questions. We want to be doing it a lot. And I'll get to the empathy step here and the reason why I use that word here in a minute, but we want to be asking questions. And like I said, the key is we had rapport that we talked about last week, which was the first step in the authentic persuasion pathway. Then we have empathy, which is the discovery, probing question asking phase, which is in this second step. Notice we haven't talked about our company yet. That's going to come in the next one. And here's a spoiler. The third step is the trust phase, and that's where we talk about the company. And then we have the hope phase, and then we have the urgency phase, which is the one that really throws people off. And that's where most people are unsuccessful at sales because of that urgency step. What we are looking for, what your goal is, what your mission is in this phase, probing, discovery, question asking, empathy step, is you need to get to the deepest level and reason why that person wants or needs what you're selling. That's it. That's it right there. That's the nugget we want, is why does this person want or need what I'm selling? And again, this applies to you're selling consumers, you're helping them get financing, you're helping them get out of debt, you're helping them open a new checking account. Like I had the experience this morning where I wanted to open up a new bank account. It applies to selling to a company. If you're selling them a SaaS platform, enterprise level, could be a one phone call, could be 18 month sales cycle. It doesn't matter. Your one goal is to find out what that person wants and needs and why at the deepest level. Because no matter what, you're selling the one fundamental consistent thing. And this is where a lot of people, when I talk to them and they're thinking about hiring me, they're like, what do you know about this vertical? And what do you know about this sales process and what do you know about really long sales processes? It's sales, it's fundamentally the same. These principles apply. This authentic persuasion pathway applies to all of it. And here's the one thing I know, and this is why it's always the same at a base level, is you're dealing with another human, you're dealing with another person. Whether you're selling to a company or you're selling to an individual, it's a human at that company. It's a human who has their own issues, their own fears, their concerns, their goals, their hopes, their worries. It's even compounded because they have their own personal worries, their personal fears. And then they have the fear of making a mistake at work and buying the wrong thing or suggesting the wrong thing, jeopardizing their job, which could then jeopardize their finances, their relationship and so on. Right? We talked about that in the fear setting part, when we talked about understanding your why, what you're afraid of, what your goals are and what is holding you back. Remember, that's true for everyone, right? In their mind, they're thinking worst case scenario and they're going down this path. Here's why this matters. Here's why this is so important right now in this step, in the step I'm calling empathy, because you need to know why somebody needs or wants what it is that you're selling. A lot of people in sales don't know that. They don't go for that. They ask their questions again, it's either the seasoned professional and this is giant air quotes. If you're listening to the podcast on the replay, I am making giant air quotes. The sales professional who's seen it all and knows it all, and they don't really care why you need it or want it because they just assume that you want it or need it. Then you have the other end. The order takers who are doing light surfacey questions, not probing deep, they're not going for the actual why. They're asking some basic questions, getting what they need, checking some boxes in the process in the event that the deal doesn't go through or their boss asks them. Hey, did you ask them about these? Yes, I asked the questions. I went through all these. Look, I even made notes and I have them all listed here. But it's not getting to the heart of the matter. And the fundamental thing that you need, which is why does that person want or need what it is that you're selling? And of course, this is where the qualification happens. There is always a chance and it does come up. This is a question by those students yesterday as well, which is so great is what about when somebody doesn't qualify or you shouldn't sell them? How do you deal with that? Which is great. I love that they were thinking that not everyone wins, right? Because if you're selling something where everyone wins, I'm not your guy. I'm not the one to help you. This process isn't for you. This process is for people who there's a determination. Do you have this issue or goal? Can I help you with that based on what I offer? Yes or no? If yes, go this way. If no, go this way, that's fine.