Using Focus To Drive Sales Results

Focus, focus, focus. That’s the phrase that I find myself repeating constantly in every sales seminar that I present. I believe focus is the greatest challenge for sales people today, and the greatest single solution to their challenges. There are so many demands on our time, so many tasks calling for our attention, and so many opportunities available to us that we can easily become scattered and dissipated.

And in my 30 plus years of experience in the sales profession, I have identified several places where focus will gain you the greatest results. At the top of the list is focusing on the skill of asking better sales questions.

If there is only one practice within the scope of the professional sales person upon which you can focus, let it be to gain mastery in asking better questions.

Of all the things that you can do and say when you are talking with a customer, there is none that even comes close to the power of asking a good question. It stands alone, apart from every other tactic, as your single most powerful sales tool. Nothing even approaches it.

Of all the ways that you can think about your job, nothing comes close to formulating powerful questions to ask yourself, and then answering them in writing. The question you ask yourself is your single most powerful thinking tool.

That power springs from a simple principle: When you ask a question, they think of the answer. I know that sounds incredibly basic, but the most powerful truths are often very basic. If you consider this, you’ll come to the conclusion that the language in your question influences, shapes and energizes the thinking of the person to whom the question is asked.

In the case of asking the customer, the question influences, shapes, and energizes the thinking of your customer. Not only that, but the language in the questions you ask yourself direct and focus your own thinking.

Where does the decision to buy your product or service ultimately take place? Isn’t it in the mind of the customer? And what one tool allows you to shape what takes place in that mind? A good question.

Let me prove it to you. Answer this question. Did you enjoy what you had for breakfast this morning?

Now consider what you did when you read that question. Probably, in a split second spent thinking, you conjured up a picture of you eating breakfast this morning. You reviewed that by considering the picture, and then made a judgment about it: You either did or did not enjoy it.

In other words, my question caused you to think a certain way, about a certain subject. And every person who reads this book will do exactly the same thing. My question will direct and influence the thinking process of thousands of people in some small way.

Dave Kahle is one of the world's leading sales authorities. He's written twelve books, presented in 47 states and eleven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations. Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, His book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime, has been recognized by three international entities as "one of the five best English language business books.” Check out his latest book, The Heart of a Christian Sales Person.”