The 7 Most Important Sales Questions… Ever

The questions you ask your customers, clients, and prospects aren’t the most important questions. The most important sales questions are the ones you ask yourself. Whether you use a pre-call and/or post-call planner, the key is asking yourself, “What have I learned?”

Check-in With a Checklist

Budget 30–45 minutes at the end of your workweek to review your activ­i­ties and consider oppor­tu­ni­ties for improvement.

• Review activ­i­ties to repeat — Success is not luck; when results are favorable, ask yourself – what did I do and what can I repeat? Seneca, the first century Roman philoso­pher said, “Luck is what happens when prepa­ra­tion and oppor­tu­nity meet.

• Identify areas to improve — The first step to improve­ment is iden­ti­fy­ing what needs improved. When I was a very young man, I was asked what I wanted to improve about myself. I answered that I hadn’t thought much about it. I was given the assign­ment of iden­ti­fy­ing three weak­nesses I wanted to improve, jotting them on a slip of paper in my wallet, and looking at them daily. Years later, I consider these former weak­nesses to be strengths.

After you’ve iden­ti­fied areas of improve­ment, consider the best method of improve­ment. Can you improve through self-help, or is a more expe­ri­enced sales person or manager available to mentor? Does a vendor offer product knowledge or other help, and are classes on sales tech­niques called for?

7 most important sales questions ever

• What was my most suc­cess­ful activity last week and why?
• How can my suc­cess­ful activ­i­ties be repeated?
• What, within my control, was my biggest time killer?
• What activity didn’t work and why?
• What do I need to stop doing?
• What do I need to improve?
• What’s my improve­ment plan?

If you ask yourself these seven questions every week, reflect, and act on them — you WILL improve your sales.