I help founders who sell, but aren't "sales"people. Are you open to one hyper actionable sales tip per week, useful for your very next sales meeting and consumable in 4 minutes or less?
#003: The Question Stack™
Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here.
Today’s edition can be read in 3 minutes.
Asking great questions is an unrivalled sales skill.
Buyers will respect you more and It will differentiate you from other sellers.
Yet many sellers struggle with questioning because they don’t want to come across as sales-y or to cause offence.
To overcome this let’s go through The Question Stack™.
The Social Contract
Do you remember as a child a stranger asking you a question? Something innocuous like “How old are you?”
You tried hiding behind your parents' legs, they pulled away (traitors) and said “Come on, answer the question”.
You learned, when asked a question you answer it.
This was reinforced during school - “What is the answer?” and you answered.
The Question Stack™ takes advantage of this social contract.
3 Types of Yes
According to Chris Voss (former FBI hostage negotiator and author of Never Split the Difference) there are 3 types of Yes:
- The Confirmation Yes - Used by buyers to agree that the seller said something. It moves the conversation forward.
- The Counterfeit Yes - When a buyer really wants to say No, but says Yes as an escape route.
- The Commitment Yes - The only true yes.
Often sellers have happy ears. They hear a Commitment Yes when the buyer meant a Confirmation Yes or Counterfeit Yes
Closed Questions
Seller: “Does that make sense?” “Should we move forward?”
These are examples of closed questions. The only answers are “Yes” or “No”.
And they’re some of the worst questions you can ask. Yet sellers rely on them because they’re easy and buyers will not break the social contract.
When asking closed questions buyers will usually give a Confirmation or Counterfeit Yes. While sellers will hear a Commitment Yes.
Unless you are using the Question Stack™, avoid closed questions.
Open Questions
Seller: “What brought you to today’s conversation?” “What changed since we last spoke?”
These are examples of open questions. They’re impossible to answer with “Yes” or “No”.
Open questions are your friends as they allow the buyer to elaborate. They invite a conversation, not a sales monologue.
Whenever possible ask open questions.
Now the fun part… The Question Stack™
By combining closed and open questions they can become your superpower.
Do the easy bit first - ask a closed question.
The buyer will follow the social contract and say Yes.
Then immediately follow up with an open question and you’ll get the prospect talking, it’ll feel natural.
For example:
Seller: We just covered XXX, does that solve the pain we were just talking about?
Buyer: Yes.
Seller: Great, help me understand, where do you think that process would fit in your workflow?
Seller: We just covered XXX, is that what you were expecting?
Buyer: Yes.
Seller: Great, well now you’ve seen it, how well do you feel it solves the pain we were just discussing?
The key is to firstly ask a closed questions. Then immediately follow up with an open question to keep the buyer talking.
TLDR Wrap Up
- Questions are one of your key skills as a seller
- The Social Contract - When asked a question it’s impolite to not answer
- 3 Types of "Yes" - Commitment, Confirmation, Counterfeit
- Close questions are (mostly) bad
- Open questions are much better
- The Question Stack™ combines the two
And that’s a wrap….
If you’re not getting value please consider unsubscribing - no one needs emails they don’t get something from.
Alternatively, if you found this valuable please:
| Recommend it to a friend |
Until next time,
Scott Cowley
PS I help founders who sell, but aren't "sales"people. Whenever you're ready here are two ways I help:
- Mentoring call: Until the end of July I'm offering free mentoring calls to people on this newsletter (normally only available through my mentoring platform). We can talk about whatever sales problem you have from lead generation to closing to recruitment and anywhere inbetween. Reply: "Let's chat" if you're interested.
- Fractional Sales Director: Are you ready to move from founder-led sales to stepping out of sales and being the leader your company needs? Reply "Fractional" if you're interested.
Hi! It's The Sales Mastermind
I help founders who sell, but aren't "sales"people. Are you open to one hyper actionable sales tip per week, useful for your very next sales meeting and consumable in 4 minutes or less?
Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here. Today’s edition only takes 3 minutes. Every business has three distinct buyer groups, depending on its stage. Today we’ll cover: Storytime Customers Partners Acquirers Storytime In 2010, I was in Sydney and saw a talk by a prominent business builder. He talked about three different types of buyers every founder needs to be thinking about: Who is going to 1? Who is going to buy 100? Who is going to buy you? One of the other panellists that day sold...
Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here. Today’s edition only takes 3 minutes. Sellers lose their jobs for deals that don’t happen; buyers lose their jobs for deals that do happen and go wrong. Today we’ll cover: Storytime A-symmetry Four types of Risk Wrap Up Storytime While living in London, a mate asked me to buy his dad a beer at a typical English pub. It was an odd request. First, I barely knew his father (let’s call him Steve*); second, Steve lived in New York. My mate explained,...
Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here. Today’s edition only takes 2 minutes. Every business can be a partnership business. Every business should be a partnership business. Today we’ll cover: Storytime Partnership by Co The Question Make it Real Email Template Storytime I have a semi-regular catch-up with a partner, and referrals regularly flow both ways. We have also both been customers/suppliers for each other. He runs a recruitment agency, has a super unique value prop, and is one of...