The best salespeople ask a lot of questions.
In fact, the basic cadence of a great sales call should look something like this.
- Ask question.
- Listen.
- Ask another question.
It’s really pretty simple.
You should ask important questions to drive the conversation forward, give the prospect plenty of time to respond, listen carefully (and show that you’re listening), and then ask another question.
That’s the process.
But what questions should you ask?
Well, there are a lot of important questions you’ll have to ask over the course of closing a deal… but here are three of the most important questions to ask on the 1st call.
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1. “Why do you want to sell?”
Understanding why a prospect is calling you in the first place will give you a good idea of how motivated they are.
Do they need to sell quickly because they’re facing foreclosure? Or were they just curious about what offer you could make them on their home?
This is important information that you can put in your notes and reference later during the follow-up process. It’ll also change how you talk with prospects.
Maybe you’re just calling to check-in… or maybe you’re calling to see how you can help them avoid foreclosure.
Before you close the deal, you’ll almost always need to know why the prospect wants to sell.
2. “How much do you want to get for your house?”
You should ask this question before you make the prospect an offer.
Remember the old sales rule: whoever speaks first loses.
It’s not that you’re trying to make the prospect lose, but you are trying to get as good of a deal for the house as possible. And understanding how much equity they have on the home and how much they’re hoping to get can drastically influence your offer.
This casual question is a great way to gauge how likely it is that you and the prospect will be able to work together or not.
But the next question is just as important.
3. “How flexible are you on that price?”
You might be surprised at how many people will just tell you the minimum offer that they’re willing to take on their home.
And asking them this question is a great way to figure out how much they are actually hoping to get.
Most people will even take a little less than their bare minimum offer if it’s not a drastic difference… especially if you’re going to help them out of a sticky situation.
Whatever they say, you need to ask this question before making judgments.
And if their bar minimum is outside of your budget for the property, remember: you can always offer them less and see what they say — negotiations don’t end until the contract is signed!
Conclusion
At Call Porter, those are three questions that our own sales reps always ask before scheduling a follow-up appointment.
And we think those are some of the most important questions you can ask.
But enough from us… what questions do you ask on the phone?
Let us know in the comments!