In yesterday’s post, we talked about using open-ended questions to learn about a client’s needs. One of the most important things to discover is the depth and strength of the prospect’s relationship with its current vendor. Getting the prospect to tell you is no easy matter.

Unless the prospect knows you well, he will be most comfortable talking about products or services, less comfortable talking about his particular service needs, and least comfortable talking about his business relationships.

Therefore, when getting to know a prospect, it’s best to concentrate first on product-related questions, next on service-related questions, and last on relationship questions. It may take several calls–or much longer–before a prospect feels comfortable enough to share anything of importance about the incumbent.

If a sales rep is very aggressive, she may press the prospect on the relationship issue early-on. While it sometimes works, more often than not it fails, because the prospect pulls away or stonewalls with a misleading response.

When the time is right to ask questions about the incumbent, ask the right questions. Here are some effective ways to broach the subject.

1. Always start with a positive question.
–What do you like most about your current vendor?
–How has your vendor helped you most in the last year?
–Why do you like to do business with your current vendor?

2. Follow-up with a more challenging question.
–Where would you most like to see your current vendor improve?
–How do you think your vendor could improve?
–What would make you consider using anther vendor?

3. A technique I like is the “1-10″ question.
–On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your current vendor?
–On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate us as a potential vendor?
What’s nice here is, there’s no bad answer. If the prospect rates the incumbent a 10, at least you know you’ll have to overcome a major relationship hurdle. If the rating is lower, which it usually is, you have the simple and perfect follow-up question–“Why?”

4. Whatever you do, ask. Often sales reps are reluctant to ask too many questions about the incumbent. Maybe they are afraid to hear the answers, or maybe they don’t want to make the prospect uncomfortable. But most buying decisions are based on relationships. If you don’t know where you stand, you won’t be standing at all. Instead you’ll be spinning your wheels.

Word Sell … Funny Business