THE NOODLE LOG: Three Relationship Building Money Question Types

Many sales professionals miss two key ingredients when building relationships. Asking APPROPRIATE questions that identify challenges and affects and listening to the response. The success is all about the customer and creating a business partnership instead of the client buying from you because you discounted for the lowest price. The reason that many of these conversations never turn into a regular account is because the sales professional spends too much valuable time talking about their product or service. This turns the interaction into a persuasive speech instead of focusing on what is most important to the client. The client in turn becomes impatient, retaining little information resulting in ZERO IMPACT.

To fix this, the sales professional must be 100% SINCERELY COMMITTED to helping the potential client grow his/her business. The relationship must be perceived as a business partnership. Establishing the true need and demonstrating empathy for the client can be originated from the Noodle's three Consultative Questioning types.


1. Identify the Predicament

2. Uncover the Consequence of the Predicament.


Why are only two questions reflected? Because the third question will surface in next week's edition of THE NOODLE'S LOG.


Most sales professionals are taught to ask questions which uncover facts. While these are important, they don't ignite any decisions that excite the client about a partnership. Example: How long have you been in business? This is nice to know and shows that you care, but doesn't directly impact your client's success.


An example of how this works comes from the technology industry.


Sales Professional: What is the most important thing to you in a relationship with a computer chip partner? (Attempts to uncover what the client truly cares about, but doesn't always get us in the right direction as reflected below).


Potential Client: I am really looking the lowest price. (I'll bet PRICE isn't really the issue. What do you think?)


Sales Professional: Well, I can certainly understand that. Having been in business myself, I spent considerable time shopping for the lowest price (showing empathy, that you understand...this disarms the client). Has there ever been a time when you received the lowest price, but had a faulty product or missed a deadline? (This is Step 1...getting the customer to identify their predicament)


Potential Client: Of course there has.


Sales Professional: Can you give me a specific example? (This assists the client in speaking specifically. It actually enables them to tell a story. Now, it's time to listen).


Potential Client: It happened just last week. One of our vendors from Fir Knuckles sold us 200 microchips for our network. It actually caused a minor virus which got us to lose critical data in several of our databases. (Now, the customer has been specific about their true need. This will make it easier when it's your turn to present a solution. Now, you understand their biggest challenge).


Sales Professional: How did that impact your relationship with your other customers (You already know the answer to this question)?


Potential Client: All heck broke lose. When customers called in to find out information about their accounts, our service representatives had to tell them that our systems were down. This caused us to lose credibility. As a manager, I received several customer complaints. I had five customers telling me that they had made the decision to take their business elsewhere. (Step 2...the consequence of the predicament has been uncovered).


Now, you have accomplished several objectives:

1. You listened 80% of the conversation. Listening allows your customer to feel like what they say is important. People who listen more than they talk are automatically perceived to be smarter.


2. You found out the truth about what is keeping your client awake at night. Now, doesn't this make it easier to draft a presentation?


There are next steps to this conversation. Next week, we will uncover, how to make your presentation brief (because most decision makers do not have long attention spans). However, we will discuss how to make what you say apply directly to the consequence that we have uncovered. Our second objective involves the WIIFM question which will allow the customer to take ownership of the benefit.


This is the Noodle, signing off. We throw another LOG onto the fire.

The Noodle's 5 Methods for Turning an Interview into a Job Offer

Merely obtaining a job interviews is a challenge, so maximizing its impact is critical. Whether you want the job or not, additional offers equals additional options which maximizes your negotiating position.

There are five actions that will immediately increase the probability of impressing your prospective employer and gaining an offer.

1. Interview the Company prior to your interview. Researching the company and knowing something about your prospective employer puts you in a position to speak intelligently during an interview. You can take this one step further in your preparation. Find out who is in your prospective position. Chat with three people (perhaps in different locations in the U.S. or Internationally) who do your job and ask them to talk about the expectations, a typical day, and the company. Then, when your employer asks the money question: "What have you learned about our company in your research?" You will impress them with: "I spoke with John Chandler in San Francisco, he told me that the expectations would be a, b, and c. He also said that the company is getting into the ____ product line in the future which is certainly exciting." You just took initiative that will differentiate yourself from a large percentage of the interviewing population.

2. Dress a level higher than you would imagine that someone in your position would be expected. General rule of thumb: You can never overdress for an interview. Even if the environment is casual dress, being well put together is expected. If you are still unsure, ask someone in the company prior to the big date. For example, you could ask: "I know that this is a casual environment, but I would typically wear a suit for my interview. Will that be perceived as threatening in this environment?" Usually, you will get solid advice here, but most of the time, the answer will be professional dress, regardless of what is typical.

3. Make sure that you have PROOF that you can deliver: I have interviewed thousands of candidates for sales and sales leadership positions. The biggest mistake that I experience is that the candidate tries too hard to persuade me that they can perform a skill. Unfortunately, the interviewee lacks PROOF which does not help overcome my skepticism. This proposes the following challenge: If the interviewer has not worked with you, how do they know that you can perform. Prepared testimonials from professionals who you have worked with in the past proves your knowledge or ability to perform a skill. Finding old bosses and colleagues through linked in, a tremendous networking site that over 14 million professionals use is an effective ways to obtain the PROOF. It is important that the testimonial reflect specific impact and not be general. The recommendation should not say "Joe is a really nice guy and did a great job for us. We would hire him again." Instead, you want, "Joe led a group of 11 account executives and when he was brought into the Southwest Division, our production increased by 43%". Ask in the following manner: "John, would you please do me a favor that will tremendously help my career (Human nature says that everyone wants to help)? Would you please write a brief testimonial letter about the time I spent as sales manager in the Southwest Division. You can write whatever you feel comfortable with, but what is most important is one or two sentences reflecting the SPECIFIC IMPACT that my leadership had on the division. For example, "As a result of Joe's leadership, I estimate that our sales increased by ___% after he was hired." If you truly had impact, the person writing the recommendation will be the first in line to help. It is their way of paying it forward. You can go to my linked in profile for real-life examples of SPECIFIC IMPACT testimonials in action. Also, you can take this to the next level by printing them out and putting them in a professional folio with plastic sleeves. This is your professional portfolio, similar to a model applying for a modeling job. Many professionals refer to this form of proof as a BRAG Book.

4. Be specific: A big error I see from candidates is that they are too general with their response to a difficult interview question. For example, the interviewer asks: "Tell me about a time you had to overcome a difficult objection." The interviewee will answer with: "I like to ask a lot of questions when I get hit with an objection." This statement doesn't give the employer any comfort that the potential candidate can actually perform the skill. A more effective way to do this is in the form of a Situation, Action, Result (SAR) Story. "Just last week, we had a customer who was upset because of a prior bad service experience with my company two years ago (Situation). I let her vent, apologized, showed her what's different now, and showed her some references from my current customer base. She gave me a try on a couple of orders and I made sure that they were delivered in half the time (Action). She received the orders and is now as happy as a toad in tall grass. Since this date, she has placed four other orders with me and I believe that she will become one of my elite business partners (Result)." This shows specifically what you can do and how you can deliver.

5. Write a thank-you-note after the interview and include a call-to-action. It is hard to believe that a small percentage of people actually take the courtesy to write a brief note to their potential employer. Merely taking this action makes you different. Also, your objective is to be the prospective employer's partner at the end of the day. For example: "I will be following up with you next Tuesday to discuss the next step. I am excited about becoming a member of the team." This is very subtle, but it assumes that things went well and projects confidence.

If you implement these five steps, your offering rate will improve. Further, this will put you in a more favorable negotiating position with respect to salary. See a future blog on how to make the negotiation a win-win.

Jim "The Noodle" Nudelman is a master of building relationships. He teaches sales professionals how to build and grow their business. Sales professionals who have attended his workshops say that they have increased their business, in many cases, by as much as 50%.

The Noodle can be contacted by e-mail at jimnudelman@usethenoodle.com.

His public profile on linked in is http://www.linkedin.com/in/thenoodle.