Monday, November 20, 2023

Managing Questions and “Reciprocal Inquiry”


How many times have we heard a prospect ask, “Can your software do X?” and the vendor responds “Absolutely! Let me show you how this works…” or “No, but we have a workaround – here, I’ll show you…” without any reciprocal inquiry?


In both cases, the vendor missed an important opportunity to seek clarification. “How important is this to you?” “What prompted your question?” “What is it you need to accomplish with this kind of capability?” “How often would it be used?”


Prospect responses to these questions can make or break a demo. Skilled questions management can keep you out of the weeds, enable you to identify and categorize prospect needs and wants, and address competitive threats, while simultaneously encouraging the conversation.


You can find the full process of responding to and managing questions in Chapter 8 of the 3rd Edition of Great Demo!

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