Only the Courageous Thrive in Sales

Asking the Hard Questions
By Jeffrey Hansler, CSP

Sales has become a safe haven for many. Backed by data, marketing, the internet, much selling has become order taking. It is like sailing in the harbor: safe from the elements and deprived of the open sea. And while many may survive in this safe haven of sales, only the courageous will thrive in the real world of sales: only a true salesperson filled with courage will cross the unknown to victory. 

GK Chesterton describes courage. 

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. He must not merely cling to live, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.”

The sea can be frightening and facing it takes courage. It takes all the more courage to cross an ocean of the unknown under sail. While the journey ahead is the unknown, the reality of what is present at the moment: the wind, the waves, and the currents can take you to the next stage if you are willing to deal with their reality – no matter how violent and foreboding they may be in the present. They will certainly be the death of you if you do not deal with them as they truly are as you enter their waters. The sales process is like sailing across an ocean. It is not a straight course, but a course that captures wind and current where it can and tacks to take advantage of what it is given. It requires that you are aware of the elements and whether or not they are in your favor or telling of rough waters. 

True sales takes courage and the courage is asking the hard questions. The hard questions are questions about the realities of the moment. The hard questions are the questions that all salespeople fear. The hard questions are the ones that elicit the real answers and define in real terms whether you have a sale or do not have a sale. Asking the hard questions requires courage, because it risks death for the sale.

The hard questions must always be asked when a prospect has delivered a generalization, a distortion, or a deletion. Here are just a few that I’m sure you have heard before. 

Oh, the committee will be looking at it.
I’m not sure we have the budget for that.
I believe that is in our price range.
Sure, send off some information, we’ll look it over.
Yes, I’m your contact.
We’ll get back to you on that.

There are three reasons for these statements:

Fear of facing reality
Fear of facing reality
Fear of facing reality

Why they are afraid of facing reality is another issue (...and another story) and is tied to the values by which they make decisions. It is important to recognize these statements for what they are: a wall of water that will capsize your sales plans unless you have the courage to hold course and ask the hard questions. 

The order takers will turn downwind from this wave. Order takers will lose sight of their objective. They return to the sanctuary of the office with these generalizations and vague promises in hand. They organize and manage these vague promises with follow-up calls and chitchat. Eventually, these sales will become lost opportunities as the order takers return to the harbor content to talk about possibilities and future voyages based on generalizations and vague promises. 

True salespeople will not accept these generalizations, because they know the opportunity for a sale is just beyond these waves. The true salesperson is determined to hold course and sail through rough waters to achieve their objective and they use the hard questions as their tiller. 

Deletion: Oh, the committee will be looking at it.
Hard Questions: Great, and are you part of that committee?
Do you head of that committee? 
If you want it, will the committee back you? 

Distortion: I’m not sure we have the budget for that.
Hard Questions: Oh, what is your budget? 
What will happen if you can’t afford this? 
What is it you want as a result? 

Generalization: I believe that is in our price range.
Hard Questions: What is in your price range? 
$10,000 is in your price range? 
Who sets the budget? 

Deletion: Sure, send off some information, we’ll look it over.
Hard Questions:  Who will look over it? 
Do you really need this right now? 
Do you have time to go over it in a meeting? 

Generalization: Yes, I’m your contact.
Hard Questions: So you make the final decision and authorize payment? 
Contact for what? 
Did you make the last decision about this? 

Distortion: We’ll get back to you on that.
Hard Questions: Who will get back to me and when?
Why would you get back to me on this?
What do you need to check out? 

The hard questions aren’t really that hard. It’s just that you need to be willing to bring everyone back to reality. The reality is…. 

… a committee is made up of people and it either includes your contact or does not and how you proceed will be different depending on the situation. 

… that if a budget has been set, they either know what the budget is or they do not know it. 

… that if there is a price range it is a specific number and you are inside or outside that number and if you are outside some new decisions will need to be made to make a purchase. 

… they will look at it, only if it is important to them for their future and they can tell you that right now.

…they are the current contact and that does not mean they are the right contact for what needs to be accomplished. 

…they are trying rid themselves of someone that might ask a question about the reality of the moment and the fear will not go away in the future. 

The true salesperson is willing to risk that they may defend their position to avoid reality. The true salesperson is willing to withstand a crashing wave of disapproval at the brashness of the question that heads toward the truth of the moment. The true salesperson understands that you can’t cross oceans while you’re tied up at the dock. A true salesperson seeks others that are willing to embrace life with all the courage of venturing into the unknown of reality by asking the hard questions about critical elements of the present. 

A poem by George Chapman sums up the courageous life of a true salesperson willing to ask the hard questions. 

Give me a spirit that on this life’s rough sea
Loves to have his sails fill’d with a lusty wind
till his sail-yards tremble, his masts crack,
And his rapt ship runs on her side so low
That she drinks water, and her keel ploughs air

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Jeffrey Hansler is a professional speaker, author, and consultant. He is a frequent speaker at association events and is the author of Sell Little Red Hen! Sell! He can be reached at jhansler@oxfordco.com.

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