Let me ask you a question. Answer honestly, as it is only between you and this newsletter.  How long after you begin a phone call or visit with a prospect does it take before you start droning on about your wonderful product or process?  Five minutes, Two minutes? When I do my free intitial phone call with prospective clients, it is usually about 3 minutes!  Now relax, this is normal and how we were taught. I have written extensively about how our industry is product oriented. Many of you have heard me say "all cabinets hold your dishes". When I started in this business, qualifying meant three questions; Are you building or remodeling?, Are you more traditional or contemporary in your style preferences? Do you like maple, cherry or a painted look for your cabinetry?  In those days, it took me all of 5 minutes to find out all I needed to know to close the deal.  Would you be surprised if I told you my closing rate was about 30% back then?

• Begin your conversations with your prospect with lines like: " I am happy to answer any of your questions you have;however, may I ask you a couple of questions so that I can get your perspective for your project? "
• Listen to what the prospect is telling you by taking notes.  This tells the prospect that you are interested in their thoughts and fears about the process. 
• Your job is to educate them during the question and answer process by asking them things they do not even know to ask.  Your prospect will learn more if you ask easily answered questions instead of lecturing them. You will have better luck getting the prospect to come to the conclusion you want by themselves. For example: "Why are you contemplating the kitchen remodel now?"  Or ""How have you done projects on your home before and was the experience a good one?". These questions get the prospect to open up on what they are thinking and make it easier to direct the next step.
• Respect Time & Authority is a point that I cannot make strongly enough. The prospect is the King here, not you and all your knowledge and beautiful showroom.  They are the head, you are the neck and tell the head which way to turn. (Thank you, My Big Fat Greek Wedding). By respecting time and authority you learn to always ask permission to present.  Here is an example of a good entry, " You have told me that you are afraid of being delayed once the project started, like you were with the master bathroom project right?" If it is ok with you, I would like to share with you how we avoid those very serious situations and earn a high customer satisfaction and referral rating from our clients. What is so beautiful about that approach is that you are not presenting without permission.  They want to hear it and you have respected them by asking.
• This is a an easy, fun way to sell. You GENUINELY get to know your prospects because you are taking the time to find out about them and the project in a gentle, non-evasive way that is pleasing to them. They walk away from the first meeting saying this meeting has been about us! Trust and good will are developing and they do not feel like they are being "sold".

When I walk into your business as a manufacturer's rep selling cabinets, decorative hardware and other products that, you, the dealer, already have - you get to experience the other side of this sales technique.  Let's say I go into your business running my mouth about how great my product is and how my competition has nothing on me because they are smaller or whatever... what do you think you might say to me?.....Thats right, don't let the door hit you on the way out!  However, if I simply ask questions that are easily answered to find out if there is a market niche or problem that I can solve with one of my strategies (and I rarely talk about my product without attaching a "strategy" to it) you will probably be a lot more receptive to me.  Why, because you probably have all of the product you need, what is missing are strategies that make you more money!