Six conversations to have with your prospect:

1.  Establish rapport
Generally speaking, people buy from people they like and trust.  Take the time to lower that wall of mistrust between you and your prospect before getting down to business.

2.  Keep asking for clear communication and feedback
This is the hardest conversation for salespeople because they are fearful of sounding too pushy.  Don't worry about that for the moment.  Focus instead on making sure that your prospect is willing to tell you whether or not you might be a fit. Will they agree to take another step with you - before you leave the meeting?

3.  Find real problems
Ask problem finding questions; uncover the impact of these problems.  Make notes and begin constructing a road map for the remainder of the sales process (this is your D.E.A.L. document - see Special Offer section to download a copy of this white paper) .  Be ready to tailor subsequent presentations and proposals that address these problems and how you will solve them.

4.  Talk about money
Is there a budget set aside to make the problem go away?   If your prospect is speaking with other competitors, would you lose the business on price alone?  Now's the best time to find out what would happen if you were not the lowest price.  Do they need help forming a budget?  Will they work with you to figure this out?

5.  What is the decision making criteria?
Who besides your prospect will decide to buy what you're selling?  What is the process to make this happen?  Does your prospect need input?  Are other stakeholders involved?  Is the decision made via committee?  Does the Purchasing Department get involved in this business transaction?  You usually have to ask several questions to understand what is happening behind the scenes.

6.  Present a solution
Let your prospect know that you will be asking for feedback after the presentation.  Summarize the top three or four problems and then present a response to each.  Stop before going onto the next problem and ask for feedback.  Your question might be "did I address your concern?" or "does this make sense?"  Get a response before moving on to the next problem.  Wrap it up by asking if they plan on moving forward based on the information you gave or is there more work to do?

We use this section of the Sales Playbook to guide salespeople to control a sales interview so that you and your prospect can determine if you are a good fit for one another.