This Sales Question is Guaranteed to Close Deals

Hey 👋 - Brandon here.

Happy Saturday to 1,410 growth-minded accountants.

Here’s one growth tip for you and your firm.

Today’s issue takes less than 5 minutes to read.

In the early days of building my firm, I had no idea how to sell.

I’d hold 1-hr “free consultations” where I would attempt to prove my technical expertise and convince the prospect that my service is the solution they need.

Only later, through training and coaching, have I learned how truly terrible at sales I was. And once I started applying better sales techniques in my calls, my close rate, and income, skyrocketed.

I learned that only the prospect can convince themselves to take action.

And great salespeople can ask questions in a way that gets the prospect to verbally sell themselves on the services.

We sell logically, but prospects buy emotionally.

Us accountants are typically logical, exacting, and analytical.

We tend to overcomplicate the sales process by feature vomiting, providing too many service options, and trying to speak directly to ROI (in monetary terms).

But prospects buy on emotion, not logic.

Embedded in every sales call is a cry for help to make the prospect’s lives easier. You can’t tie monetary value to spending Sunday with your kids, worry free…

But you can sell that vision.

Below, I’ll give you three questions that elicit an emotion-based response from the prospect (#2 is my favorite).

#1. “Are you sure this makes sense for you?”

The goal of a sales call, assuming you’ve confirmed fit, is to ask questions in a way that drive the prospect to sell themselves on your service.

Remember, only a prospect can convince themselves to take action.

So instead of wasting time feature vomiting or trying to value-pack your pitch, throw this question out there mid-call…

“Bob, you’ve said a lot that makes me think you do need to switch… but are you sure our services make sense?”

If you’ve done a good job up to this point, Bob will start talking about all the reasons he thinks we DO make a good fit. Bob is selling himself on our services without you needing to say a word.

#2. “What are 1 or 2 outcomes, that if we deliver them to you, you’d agree it’s a no-brainer to work with us?

This is my favorite question.

It makes the prospect pause and reflect. They will start thinking deeply about what they want to get out of working with you (and they will be impressed that you care enough to ask… because no one else is asking this type of question on a sales call).

When I started asking this question, I was surprised at the simplicity of the responses.

And surprisingly, the answer is rarely related to a monetary ROI.

Instead, I get answers about reducing time spent in an activity, or spending more time with family. I also get answers indicating they value risk-reduction and feeling sophisticated because they are spending money on a pro.

It also opens up an opportunity to dive deeper into their desired outcomes.

I usually follow-up with: “tell me more about X outcome that you just described… why is that important to you?”

Again, I’m making them visualize the future outcome which makes the sale emotional (plus I’m learning more about them on a deeper level which is always a bonus).

#3. “If we delivered [desired result], what would that mean for you?”

I always follow-up my #2 question with this.

I want them to visualize and feel the success they’ve defined. That is easily achievable when you ask this question - it puts them in the driver seat to tell you about their future desired state.

And when you pitch your service, you pitch directly to how it helps them achieve their desired outcome.

That's all for this Saturday. See you next week.

Whenever you're ready, here's how I can help you.

→ Work with me 1:1 to grow your firm (now accepting waitlist coaching applications)

See you again next week.

Cheers,

Brandon

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