ABC is a common phrase in sales training. Most people think it means "always be closing," but when we do sales training, we prefer to say it means, "always be curious."
Curiosity in sales helps you demonstrate true interest in your prospects. Successful sales professionals are naturally curious, or they develop the skills of being curious. You should genuinely want to learn about their business, their current situation, and their challenges and goals. Instead of dumping generic features and benefits, curious sales professionals ask more questions in the right way at the right time, and qualify or disqualify prospects better.
At this point I hope you're curious enough to want to know what kinds of questions to ask, and when to ask them. Instead of me outright telling you, first let me give you an example of what not to do.
One of our sales associates and coaches, Angie, is a pint-sized ex beauty queen. One day Angie went to get a new cell phone cases. The sales person took one look at her and brought her over to the pink, bedazzled phone cases. Unfortunately for them, Angie is ambidextrous with a cordless drill and grew up on construction sites. She was looking for a practical phone case, not a girly one. She wasn't impressed with being stereotyped and the store lost the sale. What did this sale person do wrong? They weren't curious! They made a quick assumption and used that to drive their sales strategy. That's no professional and not good business practice in general.
Now, lets look at the right way to sell your product or service. Someone has just shared with you their surface need, want or problem. Instead of jumping in with a quick fix that might not address the real problem, differentiate you, or in a way build value, first ask more questions. For example, "That sounds important. Can you tell me more about the situation and the impact it's having on you?" This question gives the prospect a chance to explain their frustrations and helps you discover the root cause of their problem, as well as the context in which it exists. Not only does it show you genuinely want to help them, but it can give you vital clues on how to help them in the best way possible.
Another question you can ask, "What have you done in the past to try to solve it?" This question is beneficial in three ways.
- First, it reminds the prospect of how frustrating and expensive it can be to choose the wrong prospect or service, which they might have done once or twice.
- Second, it can help you not make the same mistakes your predecessors made. Maybe they came in, didn't listen, and weren't curious at all to find the real troubles their clients faced. They did their dog and pony show, sold a quick fix and unsurprisingly it didn't work very well. You don't want to parade around with them.
- Finally, when you ask intelligent questions like this one you demonstrate skill, build credibility, and build partnerships as you grow your business.
The movie Glengarry Glen Ross brought the sale strategy "ABC" into mainstream media. In the film it stood for "always be closing," which can be a very self-centered, aggressive, and outdated pushy way of doing sales. No offence to Alec Baldwin, but we are going to keep saying ABC stands for "always be curious." A true sales professional seeks to serve, and is genuinely interested in their prospects or clients. A true sales professional asks more questions, and is always curious.
