People buy for emotional reasons and they buy from people they like and trust. It all starts with building relationships.

In order to build a lasting relationship, one must first establish rapport. You need to know the components of the NLP rapport pie and how to build rapport in the first 30 seconds of meeting. You must know how to identify an individual’s predominant sense and how to use that sense to your benefit during the presentation phase.

Once rapport has been established, questions can then be asked. However, you need to know why questions are so important, the type of questions that should be asked, and how to deal with questions from the prospect or client without giving free consulting. There are a series of questioning techniques that are available to salespeople and that will enhance the selling relationship.

Asking questions is like taking the prospect through a self-discovery funnel of their needs, desires and expectations. You are helping them to discover it for themselves. You are building a relationship step by step.

When asking questions, one must also listen effectively. There are several active listening techniques which you should apply. But the main one question is, “Do you really want to service the prospect or are you there for your own reasons?”

In today’s market, it is no longer about you, your products or services. It is all about the customer, their needs and desires and their budget.

My favorite quote relating to sales is by Cavett Robert’s, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”.

Only good questioning and listening techniques will help you entice the prospect to buy. You will establish a lasting selling relationship.

Tags: sales coaching, marketing and sales strategies, how to sell, increase sales