Examination

1
CHAPTER 8

• Examination

2
The Examination Step

• The basic goal of the examination step
• To confirm the salespersons understanding of the
  prospects/customers situation
• To uncover the prospects/customers latent needs

3
Uncovering Wants and Needs

• This question-asking/listening step must be
  psychologically structured to help determine
• The prospect's primary concern
• The prospects dominant buying urge

4
Dominant Buying Urge

• That inner urge or drive that motivates your
  prospect to take the action required to
  consummate a sale
• Dominant - ruling or controlling
• Buying - acquiring or purchasing
• Urge - motive or impulse

5
A Structure For Examining

• Before you can present your solution you must
  thoroughly understand the prospects problem
• Ask buyers needs-assessment questions early in
  the presentation

6
Two General Types of Questions

• Open-ended questions
• Cant be answered with a yes or no
• Closed-ended questions
• Can be answered with a single fact

7
Questioning Techniques

• Diagnostic and Surgical Inquiries
• Inquiring Questions
• Satisfied Customer Survey
• The What If Technique
• SPIN

(Situation-Problem-Implication, and Need-Payoff)
8
Inquiring Questions

• Inquiring questions are depth-probing questions
  that can be open-ended or closed-ended
• Use a questioning sequence
• Carefully listen
• Evaluate the customers answer
• Determine the dominant buying urge

9
The "Satisfied Customer Survey"

• The satisfied customer survey is an examination
  that is conducted to poll satisfied customers
  (not prospects) to determine why they do business
  with the salesperson
• The salesperson reviews the survey and asks the
  prospect to choose which item he thinks is most
  important

10
The What If Technique

• The what if technique consists of a series of
  questions to help salespeople determine exactly
  what a prospect wants and why
• The salesperson prefaces the answer to the
  prospects apparent problem with an if

11
Figure 8.2 The SPIN Questioning Strategy

• Situation Questions
• Achieve fact-finding objectives

• Problem Questions
• Achieve objective of uncovering
• Current satisfaction

• Implication Questions
• Achieve objective of developing and channeling
  dissatisfaction
• Have high selling impact

• Need-payoff Questions
• Achieve objectives of rehearsing and selectively
  channeling customer attention
• Have high selling impact

Source Rackham, Neil (1989), Major Account Sales
Strategy. New York McGraw Hill
12
Reacting Duringthe Questioning Stage

• Question-based presentations are the link between
  salespeoples ability to listen and to uncover
  buyer motivations
• Salespeople who are empathetic are better able to
  understand their prospects motives
• Check the pulse of prospects regularly
• Remain alert for any signals that prospects may
  send

13
Responding to Tough Questions

• When your prospect asks you tough questions
• Restate the question
• Ask
• What do you think?
• What makes you ask?
• Start with a general reply
• Dont fake it

14
How Well Do We Listen?

• People use 1/4 of their listening capacity
• People use 1/10 of their memory potential
• People forget 1/2 of what they have heard within
  eight hours
• Eventually, people forget 95 of what they have
  heard unless cued by something later on
• People usually distort what little they do
  remember

15
Listening Strategies

• Good listening is an art
• Push something aside
• Nod/tilt your head on important points
• Take notes
• Show your interest without interrupting

16
Listening versus Hearing

• How many people get lost because they only half
  listen to a set of travel directions?
• Although a person must hear in order to listen, a
  person who is hearing is not necessarily listening

17
Stages in the Listening Process

• Sensing
• The actual receipt of messages
• Processing
• Activities that occur in the mind of the listener
• Responding
• Acknowledgement of the receipt of the message

Ramsey, Rosemary P. and Ravipreet S. Sohi (1997),
Listening to Your Customers The Impact of
Perceived Salesperson Listening Behavior on
Relationship Outcomes, Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science 25 (2), 127-137.
18
Three Levels of Listening

• Marginal
• Evaluative
• Active

Alessandra, Anthony J., Phillip S. Wexler, and R.
Barrara (1987), Non-manipulative Selling, Reston,
VA Reston Publishing Company.
19
Marginal Listening

• The most basic level of listening
• Recipients hear the words but are easily
  distracted and may allow their minds to wander

20
Evaluative Listening

• An improvement over marginal listening
• Listeners are concentrating on what is being said
  but do not sense what is being communicated
  nonverbally or through more subtle verbal cues

21
Active Listening

• A process in which the listener receives
  messages, processes them, and responds so as to
  encourage further communication
• The listener is using all of her senses

Refer to Table 8.2--Habits to Differentiate Good
from Poor Listening
22
Nonverbal Communication

• More information is communicated nonverbally than
  through any other form of communication (Greater
  than 50)
• Tone of voice and accents
• Body language (facial expressions, gestures, and
  attitudes)
• Choice of dress, housing, and cars

23
Body Language

• Success in sales requires that the salesperson
  observe gestures
• A perceptive salesperson can read a persons
  nonverbal communication and accurately match it
  to that persons verbal communication

24
Reading and Reacting to Nonverbal Signals

• Nonverbal signals are processed at a sub-
  conscious level
• There are five major nonverbal communication
  channels
• Body Angle
• Face
• Arms
• Hands
• Legs

Refer to Figure 8.4--Nonverbal signals
25
Is the Prospect Listening?

• The salesperson needs to know whether the
  prospect is listening
• Effective salespeople look for buying signals

26
Interpret Body Language

• Pay close attention to ones own body language
• Set aside at least fifteen minutes a day to read
  and study the gestures of other people