This question saved my ????

I picked up a really killer sales question from the book “How to Become a Rainmaker” a while back, and after months of it kicking around in my head I finally remembered to use it this week on two different sales calls.

On both occasions this brought up topics for discussion that I had completely failed to explore (or didn’t know to explore) during our conversation.

In the first instance the prospect asked me about being able to use the website from their phone — something that I assumed was so obvious I failed to mention it. However, the last person they spoke with did, and since I hadn’t they had some doubts about what I was going to build them.

The second instance was a little bit more involved as the client began to explain what I realized was a system of custom post types and custom taxonomies — something that would have really effected the scope (and price!) further down the road.

So, what’s the question? It’s simple…

“Have I touched on everything that’s important to you?”

This simple question made me realize I was making assumptions that a prospect knew their website would be mobile responsive — and failing to mention it could have cost me the sale. Thankfully, we were able to clear that up.

It also saved me from an awkward conversation and huge change order down the line when the customer wasn’t seeing the functionality they were expecting.

It’s important to take charge of sales meetings and lead the conversation — we are the experts after all — but having the confidence to ask “what am I not asking?” is something we shouldn’t let our pride get in the way of.