Strong Interview Skills
How do you approach a new prospect for your product or service? If you begin with spewing all that you do as fast as you can then you probably don’t close many sales. Do you possess strong interview skils.
What your prospects really want is to not be sold to, but to be listened to, valued and understood, they want to know that you want to help them. Think of yourself as a reporter and then do an great job at asking questions and listening.
Step 1 to becoming a great interviewer is to stop talking and listen. You should listen 80% of the time and talking only 20%.  Model someone you admire, for me it would be Oprah, she is an incredible interviewer.
Step 2 ask questions to get people talking about their current situation.
Step 3 then ask questions to get them to talk about their desired situation.
Step 4 now help them identify the gap from where they are to where they’d like to be.
Step 5 get them talking about the consequences of staying where they are and not talking action to change.
This process works for almost anything you might be selling. Using this process helps us to understand the prospects sense of urgency. Rarely will people make a purchase decision unless there is a sufficient sense of urgency.
You will know you have completed the interview stage when the prospect is open to discussing solutions. And when you have enough information to know if you can recommend a solution. Becoming a strong interviewer will help you close more sales. Interviewing is nothing like selling it is identifying the prospects problem and sharing the value you can provide to solve that problem. This process is safe for both you and the prospect.