Clients Only Resources

Scripts for the Sales Process:

PAIN QUESTIONS:

Discovering what pains and problems your prospects are experiencing is intrinsic for developing rapport, effectively qualifying your prospect and creating a relevant presentation that will meet their needs.   Below, we present three different examples to help you create your own pain questions.  

The first section is comprised of a series of questions that lead your prospect down the qualification road.   Here, you'll see some of the steps that Exponentia uses when we qualify companies for sales training.   

The second section is a role-play taken from our Quick Lessons & Role Plays CD.   This section is great for learning how to avoid information dumps while reversing the prospect's questions to learn more about their pain.  

The third section is a list of general pain questions you can modify to your personal sales calls.  

Exponentia's Guide to Finding Pain:       

We work with companies and individuals who are trying to:

              -take their sales to a higher level

              -improve the performance of their management team

Don't know if you're a prospect for our programs.   Can I ask you a couple of questions, and we'll see whether or not we have a fit…we might not.

How long have you been in sales? (management?)

When you got started in _______ you probably had some goals set for yourself.  

What were they?

Have you achieved them?  

In terms of where you thought you'd be after _____ years when you got started, where are you?

Is that a significant difference?

Why do you suppose that is?

What are the areas you think you need to get better at?

If those challenges went away, what kind of financial impact would that have on you in terms of gross sales……net income?

How do you feel about that?

How important is it for you to fix it?

What type of investment would someone like you make to fix a $_________ problem?

Would it make any sense for us to get together to see if we might be able to help?

I need to ask you one last question.   If we had something that you thought would help you get there, would you even be willing to get involved?

(Prospect)   I don't know.   How much is it?

Hard to say until we know just what the scope of the problem is.   But the minimum investment would be in the neighborhood of $1500.   Would you be willing to invest that much to take care of a $______ problem?

Role Play taken from Quick Lessons & Role Plays CD:

SP = Salesperson

P = Prospect

SP:   John, tell me a little bit about your sales force.   How many people do you have, what kind of training have they had, are you meeting your sales objectives?

P:   We've got 25 salespeople.   They're all based in California.   We have 5 offices around the state.   We're a little behind our goals this year, and the trend isn't good.  

SP:   I see.   Round numbers, what are your annual sales revenues?

P:   Last year was our best year and we did about 50 million, but this year we're on track to do a little bit less than that and our sales goal is 60 million.   Actually we're off by about 20% of goal through 8 months.   And in software sales, I don't have to tell you that the margins are pretty high, and we were counting on those sales to fund some new product development efforts and expansion into the European market.   Those things are in jeopardy now.

SP:   So it sounds like you're having a tough time right now.   I'm curious, when it comes to meeting your group's sales objectives, what are the two or three most challenging areas?

P:   Well, Jim, we've talked about this a lot and I'd say that we're not qualifying our prospects very well.   Seems like we've got proposals out to everybody, very few are closing and we're having to offer discounts to get people to buy.   And I guess I'm not sure I've got the right people on my team.

SP:   Not unusual, John.   We hear this a lot.   But which one is the most critical from your standpoint, the qualifying issue or having the right people?

P:   I've got a lot invested in my people. Probably need to make a few changes, but first I'd like to see if there's a way to improve their skills.

SP:   I can understand that.   Mind if I ask you a few questions about this so I can get a better understanding of what's happening?

P:   Sure, go ahead.

SP:   How long has this been an issue?

P:   Well, the economy was pretty good for the past few years, and I don't think we recognized it as an issue until maybe a year ago.   We tried to do some training in-house at sales meetings and sent a few folks to some one day seminars but that didn't seem to help.

SP:   Why not?

P:   Well, you know that those thing s are really just a bandaid.   I think they just like not having to go to work for the day.

SP:   Yeah, I understand that.   What kind of impact is this having on the company, John?

P:   It's pretty serious.   I mean, we're missing our numbers by about 20%.   Some of the salespeople are grumbling about their income, wanting me to restructure the comp plan.   But more serious is the impact on the company.   We've had to lay off 10% of the workforce, and the fingers are starting to point at me and my team.  

SP:   Whew.   How do you feel about that?

P:   It's tough.   I'm under a lot of pressure and I need to find a solution.

SP:   A solution may not be easy.   What happens if you don't fix them problem?

P:   I'll miss bonus again this year, and that's tough, but at the worst, I could get fired, and I've given the company seven good years so that would be very difficult.

SP:   Sure would be.   Help me understand how you might see me helping you.

P:   Jim, we need to get these folks some help soon.   What kind of program do you have that would work for us?

SP:   Well, I'm not sure what to recommend just yet.   There are a few other variables to determine before I could make a recommendation.

P:   Like what?

SP:   Well, budget,for example.   I don't know what sort of budget you might have available for training.   Can you help me with that?

P:   With business off we've had to cut back on many expenses, and training has been cut too.  

SP:   Then if you wanted to do something there wouldn't be any money available to do training?   Is that right?

P:   No, but I'd have to make a pretty strong case to Sam, our president.  

SP:   What do you think he'll say if you go to him and ask for training money?  

P:   Depends on the amount, and whether or not we both feel the training would be successful, but his neck is on the line too, so to speak, as the board is putting pressure on him.   So I think that we'd be able to find the money if we thought the program would work.   I mean, do you have any idea of what a training program would cost?

SP:   John, that's a good question, and at this point I could only give you a rough idea based on the size of the group and my experience in training organizations like yours.   But I'm guessing that you might be looking at an investment of somewhere between 60 and 100 thousand dollars for a program that would last a minimum of 6 to 12 months.   Do you think that kind of money would be available?

P:   Wow, that's not chump change is it?   But we've got to do something, and if the training could get us back on track, it would be worth it.   I suppose if we could spread the payments out it would be doable financially.

SP:   John, in order to put something like this in place, what kind of decision process would the company go through?

P:   Well, I'd be the one to make a recommendation to the president, so it would be he and I that would make the decision.  

SP:   What about your sales managers, I think you said there were three of them.   Do we need to get their buy in?

P:   Yeah, that would be important.   I don't want them to think we're shoving anything down their throats, although they do want a training program because they're as concerned as I am.

SP:   OK, we'll have to see how that could be addressed.   I've got some ideas on how we could do that.   Another question.   Given the rather serious nature of this, when would you want to get a training program started?

P:   We can't afford to wait too long.   I'd like to see us start something in the next 30-45 days, at the latest.

SP:   Can I ask another question?   You may not feel comfortable answering it, and if you don't, it's OK to tell me.

P:   Go ahead.

SP:   You're probably looking at other training companies besides us, right?

P:   We've already eliminated a couple, but there's one other that looks pretty good, and they will give us a presentation next week.   I hope you will be the only other one we'll consider.   You come highly recommended.

SP:   Who is the other company, I'm curious?

P:   Sales Strategies and Solutions.  

SP:   Yes, I've heard of them.   They're a good company.   I'm curious, why did you eliminate the others?

SP:   I don't think they really took the time to try to understand our issues.   They just wanted to pitch a canned program.   I don't think that will work for us.

SP:   I agree, but why do you say that?

P:   I've been to those programs before, and they're OK for basic sales training and motivation, but I want something tailored to our issues.

SP:   Makes sense to me.   In fact, we'd want to conduct a fairly comprehensive assessment of the sales organization before we got started to make sure we really understood what everybody needs.   By the way, when it comes to evaluating the proposals from Sales Strategies and us, what criteria will you use?

P:   Basically, how well the training company understands our situation, the experience of the trainers and, of course, the cost.

SP:   Which would be the most important?

P:   I think the experience factor and the results you've had with others.   This isn't the time to find a cheap program; the risks are just too high.

SP:   And what would you need to see from me in a proposal so you could make a decision?

P:   References, you know, a list of similar companies that you've worked with, certainly an overview of the specific training topics and an agenda.   You know, logistically how would the training be delivered.   Some background on the trainers who would be involved.   A cost breakdown too, of course.

SP:   OK, that's doable.   When do you want to see the proposal?

P:   Can you get it to me by this time next week?

SP:   Not a problem.   But you know, since Sam, your president is going to be involved, I'd like to have a chance to meet with him briefly before I put the proposal together.   Sometimes the president or other decision makers can provide me with valuable information that would help in the proposal development.   What's the chance of you're being able to set up that meeting?

P:   I know how important this is to Sam, and I think that's a good idea.   Let me see if I can get that arranged.   In fact, he and I are having lunch today.   Would you like to join us?

SP:   Sure.   I'd like that.

General List of Pain Questions:

•  You said you wanted to talk about Issue #1, Issue #2 and Issue #3.   Where would you like to begin?

•  A lot of companies often bring that up for varying reasons.   Can you expand on that?

•  What are some of the problems that this is causing?

•  0-10, is it a fly on the wall or a source of real irritation?

•  Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

•  Why do you suppose that's happening?

•  How long has this been going on?

•  How is it getting worse?

•  How is it impacting the company as a whole?

•  How is this impacting you and your people?

•  How does it affect you personally?

•  Any pressure on you to fix it?

•  Do other senior managers seem concerned about this?

•  Who else cares about this?

•  What if your company just has to continue living with this….or is that an option?

•  What happens if you don't do anything?

•  What will happen if you don't fix this or come up with a viable solution?

•  How important is it to fix?

•  What kind of priority is it to you?

•  Is it real serious?   Is it a deal killer?   Is it a job killer?

•  What are some of the things your company has done to fix this issue?

•  What have you done to fix it?

•  How did those work?   Were you happy with the results?

•  When you quantify these impacts, what sort of a number do you come up with?•  What do you think it's costing, in round numbers?

•  Is that a lot of money to your group or to your company?

•  Can I ask you a personal question?   How does it feel to be in this sort of a quandary? •  How do you feel about that?

•  In a perfect world, how would you like it to be different? What would be the perfect solution?

•  What were you hoping we could do?

•  Assuming we could do that, what would happen then?