Today we’re going to cover the The Doctor’s role in sales training. The Doctor’s role in sales is to ask questions for two essential reasons: to find out what kind of prospect you’re working with, and to establish their needs, problems and opportunities.
Your prospects (patients) fall into three categories: sick, fairly healthy, and “in-denial.”
Sick patients know that they are falling below normal performance levels. They will describe their symptoms freely.
Healthy patients may be experiencing acceptable levels of performance but they seek the opportunity to improve. They speak in terms of making a good situation better.
“In-Denial” patients believe their performance is optimal but they are mistaken. Perhaps they resist change. Maybe they don’t want to admit to a need. These are the toughest patients to help.
A word to the wise: don’t waste too much time, but keep in touch. You can prescribe medicine but if they don’t take it, what’s the benefit? Often, a crisis will be required to change their thinking, moving them to real discontent, and thereby away from denial.
THE DOCTOR OF SELLING
A good doctor seeks to “do no harm.” He/she asks questions to establish problems, uncover big needs and prescribe solutions.
There are five types of questions a good doctor uses in selling:
Question 1: History questions
Your goal here is to identify optimal vs. actual performance levels.
Question 2: Symptom questions
Your goal here is to identify discontent.
Question 3: Cause questions
Your goal here is to define the real problem.
Question 4: Complication questions
Your goal here is to clarify the seriousness of the problem.
Question 5: Cure questions
Your goal here is to identify the prospect’s expectations of value.
You can increase your sales and enjoy greater customer satisfaction by changing your approach to match your customers’ changing perspective throughout the sale. Our sales trainingsummarizes the eight specific roles that match customers’ needs at each of the eight buy-learning steps. Click the link below to learn more.
Sales Roles That Match Buying Behavior
