THE MONTHLY Sales Skills SERIES

Course Content

0 / 6

2026

56:45 Video (417 MB) HD Video (1 GB) Audio (52 MB)

Hi, everyone. Okay. Welcome. Glad to see you. And I am doing my very best to let everybody in that I can let in.

So thank you. Thank you. So since I am doing that for the moment and it is recording this, I would love to hear since this is all about asking discovery questions, I would love to hear what you wanna get out of this. Hi, Kate. Hi.

How are you? I'm well. Thanks. How are you? Good.

Okay. So so what would you like to get at anyone can let themselves off mute. We have a lot of folks on the call. So since this is about asking discovery questions, what are the what are the challenges you're up against? What, what are the questions you'd like to know most about?

What are the most important questions? Anything in the spectrum on questions that you'd like to know. You can have it as a three or two part of the interest question on time. I heard something, but I couldn't hear it too enough. That one is the Baker cushion for the column of the team in my job.

Okay. So so thank you for that. Since I can't hear it, I'd love to respond to it, but I I couldn't hear that. So why don't we do this? Let's rock.

And, and we're gonna start talking about asking discovery questions. So as some of you know, this information echoes what is covered in the blog for June, which is all about asking discovery questions. And so let's look at them. So let's look at what why we even ask them and what the objective is of asking discovery questions. So I'm gonna speak to you as a salesperson, as a sales trainer, talking to you as as, as salespeople.

So as a as a salesperson, do you know what you want to know about your customer? And what do you wanna know about your customer? Your client, your prospect, this opportunity. What do you want to know? Well, for us, we wanna work we wanna discover, you know, the sort of projects they're working on, what kind of projects, you know, the the way they make their business if it's repeat referrals.

Great. So you're gonna start asking broad, general business questions as a way to get to know them and how they operate. Right? As a to sort of start to get a sense of them. Yeah.

And to ask about their organizations, how many people they employ, you know, just what where they work nationally, internationally, collaboration, collaborations. Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for that, Kate.

It's a wonderful start. So when we think about discovery questions are, they are that. They are we're looking to discover information about them. And in my earlier iteration of my sales programs, I call them asking qualifying questions. But I changed from qualifying questions to discovery questions because I liked the I liked the connotation of discover versus qualify.

And I found that asking discovery questions has a collaborative quality to it in the process of discussion that qualifying, well, qualifying is part of discovering. Qualifying has an exclusion element to it that I think early in the process, I don't wanna go there. And I know that there may be some salespeople that think I gotta know quickly if this is even a customer because if not, I'm on to the next one. And I I respect that. But for many of us, it's not quite that.

We're looking to find out maybe if we're a fit. But we've probably done enough if it's, b to b in a trade showroom or b to c with retail salespeople. With retail sales peak customers, you know they've come into your showroom, so you know that they're an opportunity. And they're all an opportunity until you learn that they aren't. And with b to b, you've done enough homework to know if this is a candidate that's in your ideal client world.

So no matter what, let's say their game. Now we wanna look at it and say and ask yourself, are they are are they in a process now that help that I can help them with to achieve whatever it is that they're out to achieve? There's a phrase in selling that says, it's better to have something that people want to buy than it is to have something to sell. And I'll give that to Sharon Drew Morgan, who I think who I got the quote from. It's better to have something that people want to buy than it is to have something to sell.

And when we look at it from that point of view, what we're looking at in our early discovery and I love that Kate started with the general questions because discovery questions should start broad and general to get a sense of them, to build trust, to build connection. Because when we first meet someone we'll talk about this when we talk when I when we talk about bridge questions. But when we first meet someone, to get that to all we want is enough of a connection that we can start to ask questions. That's all we need in the very beginning. So it's it's sort of like dating that we we don't really most people don't marry someone on the first date.

Don't say it never happens, but most people don't. You know? And so when we look at it as where do I want to work my way in? And because what do I wanna know and by when do I wanna know it? So that when we look at discovery questions, we want them to be a conversation, not an interrogation.

We want to we want to encourage discussion and truly discovery because the more that you and your prospect participate in the discovery process together, discussing the problem, discussing the priorities, and having them share with you. The more that they tell you, the greater the chance that you will sell them. You know what? And I'm I'll say that again so that you get it. The more that they tell you about themselves and about their problem and about what they're working on, the greater the chance that you can sell to them.

Because and if we turn it upside down, which is an archaic way of selling that doesn't work anymore, that if we have it that selling is telling, and I'm gonna talk and talk and talk about what I have to offer and how great I am and all of that stuff. I mean, imagine that on a first date. If that was what your first date was like, it would be horrible. There would not be a second date. So when we look at it as I want to create an environment that they trust me and they connect with me and they're willing to talk to me.

And that's what the beginning is. That's the groundwork that we are setting with discovery questions. Right? And we have to practice them. We have to practice them.

And we want to know what the outcome is that we're looking for from each and every opportunity that we have. What's the outcome that we're looking for in the first meeting? What's the outcome that we're looking for in the second meeting? What are we looking for? Let's do that.

That's what we wanna know. Because discovery questions are we are looking to determine where that they are a buyer. We're looking to determine where the buyer is in their buying process and when an outcome can be achieved. That's one of the things that we're looking to ask about. And I'm gonna give you some questions that can be modified for retail and trade and independent designers so that we can work with that.

So first off, discovery questions. They follow connecting and they precede presenting a solution. We don't wanna present a solution until we can present a solution that they can say yes to because that's what presenting a solution is for. We're not presenting a solution to inform and educate or throw it against the wall and hope something sticks. We are presenting a solution that they can say yes to.

And the way that we can present a solution they can say yes to is that we need to understand what their buying habits, their motivators are. We need to understand the why. Because people buy for the why, and they justify it with the logistics about the product or service. They don't buy it for those reasons. And when I watch salespeople who try to sell with a lot of product information and a lot of technical stuff, unless you're selling, like, lighting or something that's highly technical to distinguish yourself from your competition.

We wanna understand the the emotional motivation for this buyer because that's what will have them say yes, As well as what the priorities are for this this individual and the problem that they're looking to solve. Right? Okay. So with that, let's say that we're gonna layer them, and let's say that we have enough of a connection. So I'm gonna use what I call the bridge questions, which these speak much more to retail in the way I'm first gonna say them than they do to, trade or designers, but just stay with the stay just stay with me.

So the bridge questions are intended for that reason. They are like pivot questions. They're pivot questions that take us from social chatter to a business conversation. We need enough social chatter, but we don't wanna get stuck there. We need enough social chatter to sort of make the make the foundation pliable and comfortable enough, but just enough.

So that I'm gonna give the bridge questions in an order, and I'm gonna give you the context of what each question is meant to do so that you can adjust it for what you need it to do. So the first bridge question is, what can I help you to accomplish either today or overall? What can I help you to accomplish? So that might be a pivot question for retail salespeople from the social chatter at the door about the weather and say, you know, I could talk about the weather all day, but I know you came for something special. So what can I help you accomplish today?

To find out what the purpose is. Like, what's the what's so for them? And let's say that they say, I'm looking to redo because this would work for independent designers or, actually, I'm gonna make it work for everyone. Let's say I'm looking for especially for if we've got Lindsay from Stark on with us. I'm looking for a rug for my dining room because that could be anybody.

Retail, trade, it could be anybody. And so they say I'm looking for a rug for my dining room. And you say perfect. So that I can help you find me. Mhmm.

It's question number two. So that I can help you find the perfect rug for you, may I ask you some questions? Now think about that. The context of that question is called it's called asking permission. But we're asking that question because when we give a reason for what we're going to do, we increase the likelihood that they do what we ask.

So notice that. They said I'm looking for a rug for my dining room. The response is perfect. We have beautiful rugs. I'm sure we can find one that's perfect for you.

And so that we can do that, may I ask you a few questions? And they will always say yes. And they're going to say yes because it would be foolish to say no. May I ask you a question so that I can get you exactly what you're looking for? And they will say yes.

Next question is is to find out what matters most to them. And when and you say, when you think about your dining room, the items that are in there, the rug that you wanna put in there, Tell me, what are the most important things about that to you? Because now we're giving them broadly the room itself, the product, the existing items, maybe things that are other things that are gonna change in there. So when we ask them, what are the priorities for you? And it they will stop, and they will think about it.

They might think about, if it's a rug, they might think about the, provenance or antiquity of it. If they're looking for something heirloom, they might be looking for something that is going to, correlate with things that are existing in the room. They might say, you know, this is a this is a wedding present from my parents, and they've given me a budget of $10,000. Right? So when we find out what the priorities are, for me, that would be the time I start taking notes.

Because that is though what those priorities are that they're telling you are what you present the solution to. Right? Right? That's what matters most to them. And it doesn't mean we don't tell them other things, but we don't have to tell them everything.

But we do have to tell them what matters most. Right? Okay. I'll get back to that. Last question is, how much time do we have to work on this today?

So if you're in a retail setting, if you're in a trade showroom, if you're a designer if you're a designer, especially in your designer and designer on call program, you might be able to find this today. Right? So if they say, I've got I've got an two hours to work on this. Doable. If they say, I have a luncheon in an hour, so I only have about 45.

This is this the opportunity from this is probably gonna be an appointment. Do a little bit more research, and you may be able to find it, but it's unlikely. If they say I have all day and it's a rug, I would say good for you. And I hope that you have a fabulous day. I have an appointment in another commitment in two hours, which gives us plenty of time to work on this.

Right? So what are you hearing in those three examples? Those three examples of what we are going to do with the time. It's, it's an upfront contract. Are you?

It is. It's exactly right. It is. We're setting boundaries with them of what can happen in the time that they're giving us. Right?

If they're giving us thirty, forty five minutes, this is what we can do. Two hours, we can probably accomplish that. All day, I'm not spending all day for a rug, and work fills work expands to fill the time allowed. So if we say I've got an another commitment in two hours that gives us plenty of time to do this, then all you need is two hours. Right?

It's a rug. It's a rug. Okay. So that sets us up for more questions. Right?

Because those questions, the bridge questions, start to set the set the parameters of how we're gonna work together right now. So let's say that the next question is about what can you tell me about the space itself that you're working with? Tell me about the space itself. So for designers, retail design for anyone, actually, on this call, this is going to tell us what's in the room. And we're looking at what tell me about it now.

Now if this is new construction, they haven't even started, that's a different conversation. It might be that's a different conversation for right now. But let's say that we're working on a room that's existing. It's gonna tell us what else is in there. It's gonna tell us about other items.

It's gonna talk about what this is gonna correlate with. It's gonna talk about existing things. And for designers who are looking for, there may be more in this opportunity than what they came in asking for, then there may be more in this opportunity. And that's where by being inquisitive and understanding the rest of the space, it's going to give us the opportunity to talk about everything in the space. Since a rug is a pretty significant addition and foundation to a room, then knowing what else is in there makes perfect sense to talk about what else is in there because this is going to correlate with something.

So this is where, again, take notes, whether it's take notes, sketch out the spaces it currently is so that you know what they're working with because when it's what it currently is. Let's not talk about the vision yet, but let's talk about what they currently work with. You can start asking them about things that work or don't work, things that are problematic, things that they've already tried, because you're working with what they have now. And if there's furniture in the room, since furniture is pretty much standard sizes, they might and they and you can sketch out the room of what's in there now. Let's say that they've got a sectional that seats six comfortably, and they've got let's say that the the you can figure out how big that is, and that's staying in the room, And you can work from there to figure out the size of the room if they don't already have dimensions so that you know what size of rug to put in there.

If they don't exactly know, if they don't know if they want, you know, a nine by 12 or an eight by 10 or which one they wanna go with, You can figure that out by talking about what's existing in the room now. So we've got the four bridge questions. What can you tell me about the room the way it is now? And then we have the badass questions. The badass questions are intended to determine where the buyer is in their buying process because the badass questions are five questions not asked in order, but asked in a way that we build trust, further trust.

And there are some questions that you need a little bit more trust to talk about, like money and other people, then, then questions like, is there an event coming up you need this for? For our conversation and, again, they're not asked in order and they're meant to be conversational. And they're also meant to be like a silo of questions. One of the questions is the b stands for budget. And while budget as a word has limiting factor limiting quality to it, when I'm using it, I'm using it as the number that they've already been thinking about, which doesn't mean the number that they are restricted to.

But that number represents what they've already done, what they've already compared to, what they've already researched, that number. So if you ask someone, you know, what are you planning to invest in the rug? What are you planning to it like, now? What are you what are you thinking is the is the range that you wanna be in? How they answer that question tells you a lot because there are really only two reasons that people won't give you an actual number.

Right? One of them is how long they've been researching this. And and in the game of looking for it. And so they may not the number that they have may reflect what they've looked at already or what they've spent in the past. And that number may not be relevant to where they are today or what it's gonna take to get what they want once you've identified what the priorities are.

And that number may also be that they have a number, but they're not they're a little reticent to share it with you right now, or they don't know. Because even though they've been looking what they've seen at the prices that they've seen it for doesn't line up. Like, they just they thought that they could get something for x, but what they have seen for x, the quality and is just not what they're looking for. So I wouldn't ask that out of the gate, but I would I would wanna find out what it is. And if you one of the ways to do it is if they find a rug that they like, let's say, if you're in Stephen King and they're you're at Stark and they find a rug that they like, and you could say the one that we're looking at in nine by 12 is, $98.50.

Is that about what you had in mind? So if we don't get a number, we need to find a number so that we know if we're in the right world. And I know that every person everyone on this call has probably gotten a budget from someone and exceeded that budget because what you found is a solution was so magnificent that they had to have it. But what made that happen is that what you found is a solution aligned with their priorities so well that the cost became less significant. Not irrelevant, but less significant.

Right? So of the five bad ass questions, two are about money, two are about time, and one is about other people. Because time, money, and other people are the three most common objections that we have to deal with. So we can either ask and get answers to these questions as discovery questions, or we can get very good at handling them as objections because it's gonna happen one way or another. But if you don't like that money conversation about discounts and can you do better on the price and all that stuff, then you better get that clear discovery because it should impact your selection.

So the other the other the other money question is the a b a, is the ability to buy. And whether that is I know that for some some retail people who are on the on call, that would be talking I would I would bring that up indirectly talking about your financing promotion to say you are gonna take advantage of our no interest, promotion, aren't you? Because for a million reasons, I believe people should use financing to buy home furnishings because it just gives them it's easier to close if they can they have more buying power, and they usually qualify for much more than they use the first time. So you've got an open to buy that you can use for the rest of the year to help complete the room. With designers, I would it it would be talking about how it works, like how the payments work so that they are prepared to buy when they need to buy.

Right? And I would say for trade showroom, it would be what the practices are for your particular showroom. So the ability to buy is a little bit more of an indirect question, but it represents what they have to spend, not what they expect to spend. And they're both related to the money. So that if someone were to say that's too expensive, too expensive is a comparative statement.

It's gotta be compared to either what they have, what they think it's worth, right, or what they expected. It doesn't exist in a vacuum. So when they say it's too expensive, ask more questions about tell me more about that. I I hear that the money's a bit of a concern. Can you explain that a little bit more to me?

Because giving a discount, like, not on my watch, giving a discount is not the first fall to it's not plan b. We wanna know what is the what's the financial criteria for this project, especially whether and for designers, what are they allocating for certain product categories so that you can know. Because you can, you know, steal from Peter to pay Paul a little bit if they love the rug so much and they allocated 7,500 and the one that they love is 2,500. Take the 25 is is 10,000. Take the 2,500 out of another product category.

Or get them to finance in equal payments. It makes it easier. Okay. So b a d. D stands for decision makers.

And this is not about the politics of their relationship, but it's rather about is everyone here who needs to be here for us to go ahead. Right? That's it. And so if another person needs to be here, do they physically need to be here? Can we FaceTime them?

Can we send them photos via text? Can we do it that way? And if we ask more questions about what proximity that decision that other decision make maker needs, it may not be physical. They don't have to sit in it. If they're looking to buy something, a recliner for Father's Day, they may need to be here.

They may need to be here, but maybe not. If you understand, like, what their inseam is and their torso length and that stuff, you may be able to do it without it. But that's it in decision maker. Decision maker is also for, the maven, the person that comes with that person that's that's the buyer to help them with this. And I know that for many of us, we have it as we have a may we have the client or the customer, and we have the annoyance.

But I would like I would invite you to consider that that maven, that friend that's an expert probably does this with other people. And we have this divide and conquer when we have this instead of seeing them as two buyers, one now and one later, or one with other people. So if that's been your strategy before to try to, like, well, whose house is this anyway? To do that stuff, Know that you've got someone who's a buyer for themselves and a helper for other people that we need this person because they trust them more than they trust us to make a good decision. What we don't have is a strategy to manage that situation.

Try this. I would ask them since they're both laypeople. They're not designers. There's somebody with a flare. Right?

They've got good taste, which is great. To say, could you both describe your home describe your homes to me? So you wanna get a sense of what their individual aesthetics are. You wanna listen for similarities and you wanna listen for difference. So with the Maven, you wanna say to them that she has expressed that what she really likes are neutral tones and textures.

That's really what she likes. And what you've mentioned is that you like color in your room and you like the ability to mix pattern. Isn't that correct? And she's they say yes. And you say, for us to help her find neutrals with a lot of texture, if she finds something she likes, it may not be what you like, but we're gonna help her with this, aren't we?

And she's gonna say yes. I'm saying women, but it doesn't have to be. So when she finds something that is in neutrals with texture and the maven says, I'm not loving it. You can say, of course, you're not loving it. It's not what you prefer.

But given what she's working with, how do you think it works? Just reframe the question. And she's gotta say, yeah, I guess. It real it actually it does work. Right?

They're here for a reason. The and I would send both of them thank you cards, both of them. This person will bring you business and help you close business. Okay. That's decision maker.

Another a, availability and time frame. And that is, that is a couple of things, is that it's gonna tell you how long they've been in the process, what they've accomplished while they've been in it because you don't have a huge window. When people are out, especially furniture, when people are out shopping for furniture, you've got about a two week window from the time they physically start shopping. And this is not as much for designers as it is for retail salespeople, but you've got about a two week window. And if they don't close in that two week window, they're gonna they're they it furniture's delayable.

They're gonna be out of the market until another life event drives them in. So rather than ask someone when do you need this, which is a typical way to ask the question, I encourage you to ask it as, is there an event coming up that you need this for or something special like an empty room that we need to work with? Because an event or an empty room are motivating factors that have them in the market to begin with. Right? To begin with.

So if they are if they are motivated by an event coming up and you're selling special order something, then you need to say if it's a furniture or rugs that are gonna be special ordered or then you need to say, since you want this for this event, and that really is your absolute that's your top priority, can you be flexible with the style and the price? If you can, it gives us more options to help you find exactly what you're looking for in the sense of creating a beautiful room. Because when we get locked in sometimes with aesthetic, there are other ways what they imagine. There are other ways of solving this problem that they're not open to. So that question asks them to please be open because there may be something we don't want someone to say no to a sofa because of nail head trim if everything about the sofa is perfect and hits their priorities.

So that's why we wanna present to understand what their priorities are so that we can present to those. So that's time frame. We wanna know when they need when what what they may say I have all the time in the world. And you say, great. Because what we're looking at right now, the sofa we're looking at right now is fourteen to sixteen weeks.

Now I have a little production wheel. I'd show you, but it doesn't you can't see it on the screen. A production wheel that says, since since it's June 17, fourteen to sixteen weeks gets us here with installations gonna get us here. That would bring us to, I don't know what it is, like, October 2. And there's a, oh my god.

That long? That's what the production wheel shows you. You say, yeah. So is there an event coming up between now and then that you need this for? And they now they think.

And they think, no. No. No. I'll have it in time for Thanksgiving, which is at my house this year where it will be okay. Or if they're looking at something that has a tight time frame, either find something that's gonna make it within that or you say, in order for us to make this time frame of October 2, then we need to order this no later than tomorrow at 05:00.

So that we actually either close it today or make an appointment to close it tomorrow. So that's what time is gonna help you to do. And most peep it's the easiest question for people to answer. Of all the questions, it's the easiest one because they actually know the answer to that. Okay.

The last one is shopping and comparing. And, again, this is for everybody. So that I wanna know what else have you been looking at? Where have you been looking at it? What are you comparing us to?

And I've really and this is probably the question that gets asked the least. And yet, it's what they're basing a lot of their conversation with us on is what they've already seen, researched, discovered. So just take a moment, take a breath, and ask them, where have you been shopping? What have you seen? What have you liked?

What are you comparing us to? Because if they saw something that they like somewhere else, why are they still looking? And what kind of a commitment do they have to go back to where they were to find something? Right? So we've got the four bridge questions.

What can you tell me about the ring the way it is? And the five bad ass questions. So it gives us, no matter what, these 10. We're gonna ask a lot of other questions. But these 10, we wanna know.

I would also add to that the why now question. Like, why now? Why are you doing this now? Of all the things you could be doing, why are you taking this project on right now? What's going on in your life that this project, this it seems that this is a good time to start this project?

Okay. So there are probably lots and lots of other questions to ask. Excuse me. But I hold those as the most important because it's going to tell me, is this meeting going to end in a sale today or is this meeting gonna end in an appointment today? Because if it's going to end in an appointment today and there we realize that there are some things missing from their decision making process that are germane to being able to make a decision, then that is what I'm gonna call homework.

They need to bring someone back, that's gonna be your homework. I need to double check the measurement, That's gonna be your homework. Because what does homework insinuate? It insinuates we're gonna have another meeting. Right?

You don't get homework on your last day of school. You may get a reading list for the next class, but you don't get homework. So homework is something that is gonna keep them tethered to us. Right? Because we give them work to do.

And like all relationships, the more invested they are, and this comes with what they share in answering our questions and discussion. Excuse me. The the more invested they are in doing work with us, with you on this project, it increases the likelihood that they're going to buy from you. The more work you do without them, the more invested you are in closing them, but that's not how the process works. Right?

The process works, but they need to be invested in closing with you. They need to want to buy from you. Goes back to, you know, it's better to have something that people wanna buy than it is to have something to sell. Okay. So that's I've been talking.

Now given that given those questions, I would love to hear any other questions you, that you find are really important. Questions to ask as part of your discovery process, other, or anything else that you either are challenged by or how to ask that question or if I don't bring it up, then maybe nothing will come of it. Anything that you are you are challenged by with asking discovery questions. I'm gonna put glasses on now so I can see you. Hey, Jody.

It's Jen at Decorative. Hey, Jen. How are you? Good to see you. Good.

I know. It's been a long time. Good to see you. Been. We have quite a few staff on today, and I wanted to ask your opinion.

What we seem to struggle with, in our sales process because our projects are so far out Yes. We just Tori has one right now that we've been on for four years. What I find most of our team struggles with is asking the status or timeline questions. And this is not necessarily the person they're in front of. Oftentimes, it's the builder or the tile installer, but most of the time it's the builder.

What do you recommend for or what are some questions or some ways to frame those kind of questions to find out what the client's timeline is and when they should follow-up? Which meeting is it? So, generally, the first meeting, we like to get an idea. They have a whole contact sheet with your bad ass questions noted in tiny little font. But they really need to know, like, when is this project gonna happen?

When do I need material on site? Because we set our entire follow-up cadence based on that date. Correct. And I find that some of our team has a tough time asking that question, or if the designer doesn't know, they're they don't necessarily take the next steps. Okay.

So what if so are you is one of your questions do you have a contractor already? Yes. Okay. So that's one of them. So, so are you going to when you ask if they have a contractor, do you say, can I get contact information for all of the principals on the project?

I do, but that's a great question for our team. Well, I would do that. First, I would do that. I would get all con because the again, the more that they invest in you, then then you're you're just assuming that they're gonna buy from you. Right.

Right? So I would say, what's the timeline? Like, when do you need I would ask that. But what I would wanna know is, if it's not being asked, what is it about the question that that has people hesitate? I'm not sure either.

We have some of our staff on here if anybody wants to chime in, any hurdles that you've had. But, what I find is they forget sometimes, but there's Jackie. What do you have, Jackie? Well, I was just gonna say it's for me, at least, on on those long ones, and I know that I've brought that to your attention that I struggle with that. It's almost like nobody actually does know what's going on, so then I keep asking, and then it's like and I'm asking the project manager or or or sometimes it's like, I'm even just trying to get the builder's contact information and the designer doesn't know yet, and I'm just, just I guess I'm just, like, asking over and over again.

That or, again, it's it's it's like a moving target. So, like and I know that other sales consultants have run into this too where it's like, oh, it's it's gonna close, like like, we need it yesterday, and then this drag goes on for, like, three or four months sometimes. So I think I would be so, Jackie, that's helpful. So one of the things that and this is not always, but one of the things like, I don't ask designers when the installation date is because they often say we don't know. So I don't wanna go down that road.

So instead, I would say when is the client expecting to be using this space? Because they're they are deciding whether they're gonna have the holidays there. They're gonna have they they someone's having that conversation. Right? So when is the client expecting to be using this space?

So that we can have a working time look. Say it. I'm gonna create a working timeline for this project. But it's it's one of those that I think it is we're putting ourselves in the driver's seat here. And that may be something that makes people uncomfortable, but I would say as a salesperson, you've gotta be in the driver's seat.

You can't be a passenger in this one. And so I would say if I can get the contact information for all all of the principal contractors on the project so that when I communicate, I'm gonna communicate with everyone so that you know everyone is on the on the same message, on the same timeline, on the same message. I won't inundate you with information you don't need, but for anything that changes or the people need to be kept abreast of, and you might put the homeowner on it so that everybody knows. I think that we get afraid of being that bold or that, directing, but we kinda have to. Would you agree, Jen?

Absolutely. Yes. We just talked we just had a sales training on being the influencer. And when that disappears, how you lose track of the sale. And I was hoping this would be a follow-up so they could ask their questions about how to collect their timeline and how to when to follow-up.

And, you know, a lot of them are afraid of being annoying or too pushy, and it's not annoying at all. You're actually helping them. So I just was wondering if you had other ways to phrase that. Well, I would say if you if you have an intake sheet, really use it and always use it so that so consider this. If you were to go to a surgeon to have your tonsils out as an adult, which would be probably a horrible thing, but to have your tonsils out and your surgeon said, I think we'll go in the through your ears this time.

It's like that would be a stupid thing, and you wouldn't trust them. So when you use, when you've got a system, be creative with your aesthetic solutions. Don't get creative with your system. Use a system that you trust that you do all the time so that you know you've got your bases covered because you are you are trustworthy to be able to check that stuff off, that you covered all your bases. All the top producers do that.

Get creative with your solution, not with your system. Good. Any other questions, Jen? No. I think we're good.

Thank you. I just wanted to comment that I have started to ask when the client is gonna be using the space, and I feel like that actually does give me an answer a lot Exactly. More often than what's the timeline on this? So here's the thing. So I know we've got designers on the so except for Susan Shulman, who's on this call.

So I know but she would go along with what I'm gonna say. That you are if you're a trade salesperson selling through designers, you are selling through the selling skills of that designer. And you you gotta know that you're gonna ask them questions that they have not cleared with their clients yet. And they might say, I don't know. But what it might be is that they haven't asked yet.

They just don't know yet. But it doesn't mean that everyone doesn't need to have that question discussed. So just know that. And your questions and the more the more, consistent you are with the questions that you ask, especially if you're working with some designers with regularity, you will make them better salespeople by the questions you ask them and expect that they should have an answer to. So just take it on.

We're all in this together. We're a community. Okay. Other questions about hi, Shar. Other questions about asking discovery questions.

Yes. Sure. Let's say you're I'm thinking specifically I'm in a meeting with four people. I'm not exactly sure. I know the boss should be the person that I'm directing questions to, but it became really obvious in the meeting that there was another employee that seemed to think that she was going to run the show.

When you have a group, how do you discern who is the person who's needs to answer those questions so that questions need to be directed to? Or you just open it up to whoever's there? So I think I would probably do fall cover that in preparation. I would ask who is gonna be coming to the meeting and what role they play. Right?

I would do that. And then when you start the meeting, I don't know if you if this is customary for you, but, again, systems and consistency. I would start the meeting by saying my objective for this meeting today is x, and I would love to know what your objectives are. And you might ask again since we have lots of you and this is what we're looking to decide today. No.

I wouldn't. I wouldn't say that. I would I was gonna think of maybe I should ask for any particular preferences or something, but I think I would leave that alone. That might be opening something that better left quiet. Mhmm.

But preparation, whoever your contact is to ask who's gonna be at the meeting and what role will they play in the in the decision that we're there to, confirm. Okay. I found it asking questions when someone just walks in the showroom. Okay. So here we go.

So, I found that asking questions when someone just walks in the showroom can make them more skeptical and withdrawn. What is your guidance for how to not feel pushy or turn them off by giving them attention? It's a hard balance. I think that when so this sounds like is this a trade showroom or a retail showroom? Both.

Okay. Excellent. Well, I think that well, I'm gonna answer it this way. But mostly mostly trade, we get general shoppers. I think that in trade showrooms, what's I think that when someone enters a trade showroom, when a designer or when someone walks into a trade showroom, who is whoever is closest to the door should stand up and look at them and say welcome and say thanks for coming in or something or just like and be gracious and welcoming.

I think that we should do that, and I don't see it happening. I go into a trade showroom and people are in their computers, and they just assume that if there are questions, they'll ask. And that contributes to how what doesn't happen with that incoming opportunity. So I think that we need to be as gracious and in and warm and engaging with that opportunity as we would be at the Ritz Carlton if we worked at the Ritz Carlton. But I think especially when you're selling luxury products, we need to deliver a luxury experience.

And there's and it's not like luxury experience like in Pretty Woman that we get to be snobby with people, but rather the higher up we go in the price of the product that we sell, the more lovely we need to be, the more lovely we need to be. And it's hard to resist lovely. When we truly are glad to see them and we don't look up and find them to be a distraction from what we're already doing, then something's probably gonna happen. But that would be you raise a great point because we there's a phrase that set in selling that says you can't close what you don't open. Right?

So that if we don't create an opening with them when they come into the showroom, it's unlikely that anything else is gonna happen. However, they don't have to be in love with us at the front door. They have to just be we have to start to melt the ice. They're coming in afraid. They're coming in I don't know if I belong here.

I you know, I don't know what I'm they're coming in afraid of something, and what we need to be is absolutely wonderful. There's a phrase that Lou Holt it's one of my favorite phrases that Lou Holtz said that really applies to people coming into a showroom. And that is when people need love and understanding the most is when they deserve it the least. So when they come in and they're fearful and they're they don't look at us and they don't talk to us and they're on their phone and all that stuff, that we think, oh my god, they should be nicer to me. Like that, like, let's take the shit away and let's just think, alright.

They're fearful. Something's going on with them. I need to break the ice and the the and just be gracious and engaging so that we can start asking questions. We wanna create enough of a connection at the door that we can start some chatter about the weather in summer or something or what they're wearing or something so that we can say, I could talk about I don't know. I could talk about summer gardening all day, but I know you came in for something special.

So what can I help you accomplish today? That's where that first bridge question as a pivot from social chatter to a business conversation comes in really handy. So I don't know if I answered your question that that way, but if we if we just know that they are that, they're skeptical and withdrawn and it's really out of fear, then who can I be as welcoming and approachable and warm to let them feel know that they're in the right place will go miles for getting them to to open up and and answer your questions? And I hope I answered yours. You're very welcome.

Okay. Let's do one more. Oh my gosh. Oh, hi. Faith Smith.

I work at Malouf. Is it based on location, walk in clients? A lot of these condo owners aren't local, don't have much time. Most of our items are true custom and lead time, six to eight. We lose a lot of business by they don't have grab and go.

How do we help ease the harshness that they have such a long wait time in in most times, even though our showroom is 60,000 square feet, do you think we should have a grab and go? You might have so thank you for that, Faith. You might have some items that are less, but if we ask the badass questions and find out I and and this is true. So I know that there are people here from Colorado who have people in the mountains, that they're only in the mountain house, you know, a few times a year, and when they go there, they're there to get stuff done. So if we were to ask them say so I think I've done this with you before, but I'm gonna give it to you again.

The word since followed by a fact followed by a question. Since since you're only here for the weekend, can we make some preliminary decisions of what we wanna do? And then we can work on this as we go along. Or something to say, since we are primarily special order, if we could work on the project so that we could have this in time for when you need it in your home, would that be a workable solution for you? Because desperate decisions are rarely good ones.

And when people buy things quickly because they're desperate to get it because they only have today to buy it, there's a difference between buying something and having it delivered. They can satisfy that that gratification need by making a decision today. They don't have to have it delivered today unless there is an event that they're they're having it today. And in which case, I would go for the you must have something in clearance that they could buy. But let's imagine that those aren't the majority of your people.

You're just looking for a way to be gracious and help them. Did that help you? Okay. Okay. Any other question?

Thank you, Faith, for that one. Okay. So for the sales associates, make these questions yours, and you're gonna get the recording and the AI summary of this as well. But make these a practice for you. For the sales managers who are on the call and, Jesse, I see that you're here too.

Please build this into your observations and coaching. Because if you were to look at deals that are lost and you ask them what prevented them from buying, and they say it was too expensive, and you say, when you ask that as a discovery question, what did they tell you? And they say, I didn't ask and get an answer. We're back to they're not asking those questions. And as salespeople, we have it is it is our life work that we are always, always going to be looking to ask more and better discovery questions.

So getting facile with asking questions until we find out what we need to know, to know what we need to know about this buyer, that then the questions don't stop. You just have to keep asking them. And if you leave this call and say, oh my gosh. I'm still not asking enough questions, then that was time well spent. Because that's true of all of us as salespeople.

We're not asking enough questions. We're just not. We're just not. And our objections that we're getting or the reasons not to buy that we're getting that prevent them from buying with us are the indicators that we're not asking them where they belong, which is in discovery. So, I hope this has been helpful, and it's been just delightful to have all of you on the call.

And we do this, as you know, every month. And so thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And, please keep in touch, and I'll make sure all of you get the recording of this.

Alright. So go make gold for June. No. Thank you, Cody. Thanks.

Bye.

Bookmarks