Don’t Answer Unasked Questions
We hear it over and over on recorded calls. The prospect asks for one answer, and the salesperson gives two (sometimes three or four).
Oftentimes, this happens with rookie reps that don’t know what exactly to say, so they end up saying too much. But it also happens with veteran reps who get lazy and loose-lipped.
Two examples.
Example #1:
Prospect:
“I’ll get everything set up today, right?”
Wrong answer:
“That’s right. And I’ll also give you the number to our customer support team so you can reach them anytime just in case you have any questions. And I’ll also be available in case our customer support team doesn’t answer.”
Right answer:
“That’s right, we’ll get everything set up today.”
Example #2:
Prospect:
“How much does it cost to get started?”
Wrong answer:
“Well, it’s $99 per month. But it used to be $120 per month and you had to pay for the whole year. Now we make it way more affordable and you can pay monthly.”
Right answer:
“It’s $99 to get started.”
There are two main problems with answering unasked questions:
- Overtalking – prospect gets bored.
- Overexplaining – prospect gets confused.
Both of these are to blame for many winnable deals being lost.
1. Overtalking makes the prospect lose interest.
Nobody has time to sit and listen to somebody talk all day, except for therapists and maybe your dog (if you have a really loyal dog).
There is a reason that the prospect has agreed to listen to your sales pitch. There’s something that they’re interested in. It’s the salesperson’s job to figure out what that is, and focus there.
Most of the time, the prospect will make it easy. They’ll ask questions about the specific part of your product or service that they’re interested in.
If they want to know about one feature, directly answer their questions about that one feature.
Don’t tell them about the 99 other features. They’re not interested in those.
2. Overexplaining opens a can of worms.
When the salesperson volunteers answers to unasked questions, it opens up a can of worms.
This invites the prospect to think of questions that they previously weren’t worried about, which in turn, over-complicates the sale and increases the chances that the prospect will give the “Let me think about it” objection when asked for the sale.
The prospect already has enough questions on their mind:
- What if I can’t cancel?
- What if this doesn’t work?
- What if this is a scam?
- What if the world ends tomorrow?
- What should I eat for dinner?
We don’t want to add even more questions to that mix.
Prospects buy when they understand. They buy when they feel that all their questions have been answered.
So we want to answer all the questions that they have, but not one more.
The exception to the rule: selling value.
The only exception to this rule is at specific parts of the pitch or demo when you are selling value on a feature of your product or service that the prospect is interested in.
Here’s an example:
Prospect:
“What about this feature?”
Salesperson:
“That actually solves for the specific pain point you mentioned earlier. Here’s how it works … [the salesperson can be a little more long-winded here because it’s a very important part of the pitch].”
Less is more.
Research shows that successful salespeople talk less and listen more.
When you’re selling value, you can talk a little more.
Otherwise, less is more. Keep your answers brief and don’t answer unasked questions.
Especially after you’ve asked for the sale, your answers to your prospect’s questions should be short and to the point.