30 Minutes to President's Club | No-Nonsense Sales

Hall of Fame 8: Kevin “KD” Dorsey Ep. 8

Mon Jul 24 2023

salesquestioning skillsprospectingsales presentationspersonal development

Description

This episode covers various aspects of effective sales techniques, including good questioning skills, improving questioning techniques, delivering effective sales presentations, and enhancing sales skills. The episode provides insights from industry experts and offers practical tips for salespeople to succeed in their roles.

Insights

Effective questioning skills

Good questioning skills are essential in sales. Understanding your value, backing off, and asking problem-based questions can make you a more effective salesperson.

Creating and closing tactics

Outreach suggests sending one-on-one recaps to executives after each call with department leads as a create and close tactic.

Improving prospecting emails

To improve replies to prospecting emails, Lavender advises removing commas, while Owler suggests name-dropping similar customers.

Pressure testing prospects

Gong recommends pressure testing prospects with three questions at the end of calls to gauge their interest and commitment.

Effective sales techniques

Using the illusion of choice, down tones, and avoiding reaffirming the prospect's current status quo can create curiosity and build doubts.

Creating problem-based questions

The formula for creating problem-based questions is to identify a product feature, ask how the prospect achieves that feature, and add a 'so that' clause for added impact.

Improving questioning techniques

Adding the 'so that' element to discovery questions makes them more powerful. Reverse the order of problem and qualification questions for better engagement. Transition from problem questions to showing the opposite impact of the solution.

Effective sales presentations

Start with a pull statement to grab attention and present the problem. Offer a solution that automates and streamlines the process, emphasizing how it saves time and solves specific problems. Use bucket questions in discovery calls to get prospects to agree they have a problem.

Investing in sales skills

Sales reps should invest in themselves by buying courses, books, and seeking mentorship. Prioritize personal development to achieve life-changing income growth.

Engaging prospects

Use problem questions with multiple choice options to engage prospects. Let your champion do most of the talking when meeting with finance professionals. Support them in game planning for presentations.

Summary

Transcript

Good Questioning Skills in Sales

00:00 - 06:48

Kevin Dorsey shares insights on good questioning skills in sales
Understanding your value and backing off can make you a more effective salesperson
Create and close tactic by Outreach is to send a one-on-one recap to the executive after each call with their department leads
Lavender suggests removing commas from prospecting emails for better replies
Owler advises name-dropping similar customers when prospecting
Gong recommends pressure testing prospects with three questions at the end of calls
Kevin Dorsey's three tactical tips: talk to more customers, use the 'eight-mile' objection handling technique, ask problem-based questions instead of discovery or qualifying questions
Asking problem-based questions elevates your authority and builds curiosity in prospects

Effective Sales Techniques

06:30 - 12:42

The difference between asking how someone edits their podcast in under 15 minutes versus how they edit it in general
Using the illusion of choice to suggest options for editing podcasts
Using down tones instead of uptones to create curiosity and build doubts
The importance of not reaffirming the prospect's current status quo
The formula for creating problem-based questions: identify a product feature, ask how the prospect achieves that feature, and add a 'so that' clause for added impact

Improving Questioning Techniques

12:17 - 18:49

Adding the 'so that' element to discovery questions makes them more powerful.
Salespeople should understand what it's like to be sold to in order to ask better questions.
Reverse the order of problem and qualification questions for better engagement.
On a cold call, two problem-based questions are enough to build curiosity.
In demos, save some discovery questions for later to keep the prospect engaged.
Transition from problem questions to showing the opposite impact of the solution.
'I think this might make sense' is a pull statement that builds curiosity and addresses objections.

Effective Sales Presentations

18:34 - 24:50

Start with a pull statement to grab attention and present the problem in front of the listener.
Using the example of podcasting, highlight the problems faced by podcasters such as outsourcing editing and time-consuming processes.
Offer a solution that automates and streamlines podcasting, emphasizing how it saves time and solves their specific problems.
For discovery calls, use a bucket question to get prospects to agree they have a problem. In the podcasting example, ask if they struggle with producing enough content or getting enough downloads.
Focus on the problem they agreed upon throughout the discovery process. Only sell product features that directly tie back to solving their downloads problem.

Improving Sales Skills

24:26 - 25:45

Sales reps should stop treating their job like a hobby and invest in themselves by buying courses, books, and seeking mentorship. Treating sales as a career can lead to life-changing income growth.
Successful people continue learning throughout their careers by reading books and talking to others. SDRs and BDRs should prioritize personal development.
When meeting with finance professionals, let your champion do most of the talking since they have trust and knowledge of internal lingo. Support them in game planning for presentations.
Use problem questions with multiple choice options to engage prospects. Instead of asking how they are doing a certain process, ask how they are doing it so that a specific consequence doesn't happen.