It has been said that many attorneys will not ask an important question in a trial unless they know what the answer should be. Sales persons might consider a similar tactic, such as, not answering a question unless they understand the reason for the question. Let me give an example.
Suppose a prospect asks “How are your prices?” The temptation for many sales persons would be to give an answer which implies low prices. They might say “Our prices are competitive?” or “We have really good prices.” or (hopefully not) “ We have the cheapest prices in town.”
What is wrong with these responses? Nothing, or everything. If the prospect is looking for really low prices, these responses could work. However, if the prospect recognizes that frequently there is some correlation between price and quality and/or service, and the prospect is concerned about quality, then the answer could dissuade the prospect from buying from this vendor.
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So, how does someone avoid answering a question until they understand the reason for the question? A good method is to comment on the prospect’s question (i.e. “That’s an interesting question”) and then asking “How is price important to you?” A quality sensitive prospect might say “Well, I know that I need to pay a fair price to get top quality” In this case a good response might be “Our prices are reasonable but sufficient to allow us to deliver top quality.” Of course, any statements you make need to be truthful. And, if your prospect is price sensitive, you need to answer the question differently.
