here’s a role-playing exercise that can reap real results.
by rob nixon
if you went to a sales training course a few decades ago you would have been educated that “selling is telling.” that might have been the case when product quality was the key differentiator and to sell your product.
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you would follow the old formula of f.a.b. – features, advantages and benefits. you were taught to talk about the features of your product, talk about the advantages of the product and then finally (after more talking) you would tell the client the benefits of the product.
you would talk yourself into the sale and then out of the sale and then into it again until finally the prospect would buy so they could get rid of you! or they would politely say, “i need to go away and think about it.” that’s a no.
when i have a group of accountants that i am teaching to sell, i will initially (before the skills are taught) give them a role-play to do. they have to pair up – one is the client, the other plays the accountant (seller) – and they are given a real client scenario to play out. when we do the debrief, the standard response was the accountant did all the talking and did not ask that many questions. and you guessed, not too many made a sale.
then i would demonstrate how it should be done. what i do is select any accountant from the audience and the accountant plays the client – i play the accountant. it has to be a real client who is a typical compliance-based client who has some potential. most of the time the client is paying the firm around $5,000 to $10,000 per year. i ask about 60 seconds worth of background questions (that i should know because i am the accountant) and then i set the scene:
we are in a neutral place. i am visiting the client for the first time. the client knows the meeting is free. the audience has to observe the meeting and write down any process, questions asked etc. the audience also has to write down potential additional services the client needs to buy to satisfy the client’s needs. i tell the audience that this will be an amazing meeting, one of the best they have ever seen and they need to keep completely quiet and it will be so good that we may start to levitate. off we go with me asking loads of leading questions in a very particular way.
i have done this interview (playing the accountant) over 50 times and it always ends in the same way. the client buys with a substantial number of new services. typically the client will be paying 5 to 10 times more per year with the additional services needed. the meeting format is predictable and teachable. you may never get to witness (or experience) this meeting with me so instead of leaving you hanging, here is my 12-step meeting approach:
step 1. make sure all of the decision makers are at the meeting.
step 2. set the scene. why we are having the meeting – the client is wondering.
step 3. frame the meeting purpose and time frame of the meeting.
step 4. understand the “now” by asking a series of background-related questions.
step 5. understand what the clients’ goals and objectives are – what they want to achieve.
step 6. ask how they would know if they have achieved their objectives.
step 7. ask what it would mean to them if we helped them achieve their objectives.
step 8. ask what their current plans are to achieve their objectives.
step 9. ask what the consequences are of not doing something different.
step 10. ask timing-related questions – when they want to get started to achieve their objectives.
step 11. tell the client the next steps – write a plan to achieve objectives with options to take.
step 12. book the next steps – another meeting to clarify details or getting started date.
leave a step out and the meeting is not predictable – it just does not work as well.