Ask The Right Questions Before Taking Your Next Sales

If you're in sales, you can identify with this situation - about two weeks after starting a new job, you begin to doubt your decision. You detect a widening gap between what you were told to expect and what actually occurs. After only a month on the job, you conclude, 'I think I made a mistake.' You're probably right, because salespersons seem to be more prone to selecting the wrong job. Too often, their profession's tendency to stress the positive and minimize negative factors extend into their approach in choosing a job.

Salespeople are often good customers who are receptive a solid sales pitch. Even though they know they're getting a sales pitch, they may be more easily swayed than job candidates outside their profession. To avoid taking the wrong job, here are 10 questions to ask before accepting a new sales position:

1. Does the sales manager make me feel inferior? You are the only person who can answer this question. It's important because sales managers are often known for their well-developed, and sometimes oversized, egos. If the person you'll be reporting to makes you feel uncomfortable or inferior during the initial interview, just imagine how you'll feel once you're on the job. Is it realistic to think that it will be different in a month or a year? If you're uncomfortable at the start, it isn't going to change. The best way out of the situation is to tell the sales manager that you're not ready for such an outstanding opportunity. You deeply appreciate the offer. In fact, you're overwhelmed, but you need to learn a lot more before you are prepared to take on this level of responsibility.
2. Can I learn more about you? Express interest in the sales manager and ask to take a look at his or her resume. This isn't pushing the envelope because the individual will be so impressed by your personal interest that the resume will almost jump out of the file. What you're looking for is the manager's employment track record. If the resume reveals a lot of jumping around, hand it back quickly with the biggest smile you can muster. Then leave as fast as you can! This manager's probably unstable, ineffective, and incompetent.
3. Where will I get my leads? This may be one of your most important questions. If the answer is indefinite, garbled or at all unclear, you can be sure that there is just one way you're going to get your leads - by getting them yourself. If you want to spend all your time trying to figure out where your next prospect is coming from, go ahead and take the job. But you'll never get very far because your time will be spent prospecting, not selling. If you see yourself as a professional salesperson, never take a sales position unless there is a well-defined, continuous lead-generation program. It's the company's job to market its products or services in ways that produce prospects. If it doesn't, you will become a canvasser, not a salesperson. And don't fall for the story that the company has 'a great new business development program in the works.' You can bet it doesn't.
4. May I see your office? This is another question for a sales manager. (Of course, if you happen to be in the person's office at the moment, skip this question.) What's in the office that should grab your interest? If you see a sales scoreboard on the wall, get out quick. This company is not interested in developing customers - it only wants to push product to meet quotas. Your only value will be measured by where you stand in the weekly, monthly, or quarterly ratings. If you're at the top, you're great. If you're at the bottom, you're gone. What you do to retain customers doesn't count. What you do to grow accounts isn't important. What you do to educate prospects isn't worth anything.
5. May I take a look at the company's sales literature? You want to ask to see the company's sales materials. Although the person interviewing you will be impressed with your intense interest in learning more about the company, focus on your objective, which is to discover the company's attitude toward marketing. If the promotional materials are customer-focused, you can be sure that the company is committed to understanding and fulfilling the needs of those it serves. If, on the other hand, the brochures are company-centered - aimed solely on the wonders of the firm and its position in the field - head straight for the elevator and push down. You don't want to find yourself in a company that is unable to see beyond its narrow interests.
6. When are the slow periods? This question portrays your ability to quickly grasp how a company operates. Because this is a question that catches the person you're talking to off-guard, you'll get a straight answer. Assume the answer is 'May and June are never very good, and we just write off November and December.' This seemingly innocent piece of corporate intelligence reveals far more than the downtimes. You have also learned that down periods are an entrenched tradition around the place. Everyone has come to accept that sales during one-third of the year are going to be lousy. You might guess that the employees have come to look forward to these peaceful, quiet days of spring and fall. But you also know that nobody has ever thought of developing a marketing program to change this pattern. Remember, when sales go down in the valley, someone is eventually going to have to scale the mountain - without a rope (other than the one around your neck).
7. May I go with you on a sales call? With this question, you start to make your move. This is the one that separates you from the rest of the pack. It shows that you're willing to take time and go along on a sales call to get a better feel for the operation. There is more to your plan, however. Once you're in the customer's office, you're ready to go to work without saying a word. You should be listening for the 90-10 test. This term means that the customer should do 90% of the talking and the salesperson 10%. If the sales rep's mouth is open most of the time, this is probably a product-pushing sales organization, not one that values customer relationships. If this happens, bail out now.
8. What gives this company an edge in your market? Now you're learning more about the business. Gentle probing gives you more information. You're objective is to discover if this is a price-driven sales operation. What's the sales manager's philosophy? Is price all that sets the company apart from its competition? If you don't have the lowest price, will you lose orders? If that's it, this isn't the company for you. The only way you'll keep a customer is to push the price down as low as possible - and then some. Your customers won't see you as a competent professional, but simply as someone to threaten and intimidate. If you don't have the right price, the customer is gone.
9. What can you teach me? Now you're on a roll, so go all the way. When you're huddling with the sales manager as you wait to meet the vice president of a department or the CEO, quietly ask what the manager can teach you. Since sales managers tend to be made from the same mold, your flattering question may trigger this response: 'Hey, you're OK. If you come with us, I'll teach you every trick in the book, and then some. I'll make you great.' What an offer! Who could possibly refuse? You. Without realizing it, the sales manager has let you know that clever techniques and tricks are what make sales. 'It's all a matter or orchestrating the customer,' the manager whispers. 'I'll show you how to do it.' At this point, announce that your mother is very sick and that you must return to your home in the Fiji Islands. You'll call him in a month or so.
10. May I visit your marketing department? If someone directs you down the hall and says, 'Turn to your right. It's the second door on your left just beyond the restrooms,' you will see that the marketing department is the closet where the sales literature is stored. If the answer is, 'You've already met Judy, our receptionist who sends out requests for information,' then you've discovered that this company does not understand or value marketing. At this point, don't delay your escape. Just get away as quickly as possible because this is a hopeless outfit. While some of the questions may seem frivolous, they're dead serious. These questions will give you the information you need to make an informed decision about working in a company's sales department. Selling should be demanding and challenging, but not painful and abusive. Ask the right questions and you'll find yourself in the right place to be successful.