Open Ended Questions and the Complex Sale
Once you are engaging in Complex Sales, there is a transition from more agenda-driven closed end questions to more learning-driven open-ended questions especially in the discovery call. These questions are more to get the other party to open up and share information that will be valuable for the product call.
Open ended questions are particularly helpful for prying out an objection that would prevent you from advancing the deal. The reason that this is the case is that open ended questions have a correlation with authenticity and help you get to the authentic self where the DM/NDM can be honest with you about any concerns that they have. This is the reason that psychologists use open ended questions, as it helps to reveal the authentic self and tell you how they really feel. You can then work to address those concerns once the objection has been surfaced.
Open Ended questions are:
● What is/are….?
● How has/are…?
● Walk me through….
Dig in questions after an open-ended question includes:
● Can you elaborate on what you mean when you say….?
● Can you explain how that works?
In complex sales you should also pair open ended questions with a conversational approach.
Open Ended questions typically follow an order in the Discovery Call:
1. Business goals and challenges
Current situation
Goals & Challenges
Quantification and implications
2. Marketing goals and challenges
Current situation
Goals & Challenges
Quantification and implications
3. ROAS measurement
Current situation
Goals & Challenges
Quantification and implications
4. Solution expectations
Current situation
Goals & Challenges
Quantification and implications
5. DM process
Current situation
Goals & Challenges
Quantification and implications
Michael Herlache MBA
Michael Herlache MBA is a Midmarket Account Executive at a leading publicly traded AdTech company. He lives in his home in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife, Svitlana. Michael has an MBA in Finance from Texas A&M University and has a background in financial sales and more recently, technology sales.
Michael has closed over $1M in revenue in the local, franchise, and franchise full service (clearinghouse) role. From the local org, Michael was promoted to the multi-location org into the role of a midmarket AE. In his first two quarters in the midmarket role he was 75% and the 120% of quota even during the COVID pandemic and is pacing for 105% of quota in Q4. He has gone through month long MM/Enterprise training in the multi-location org designed to teach the Enterprise sales process & product.
Michael has completed Enterprise Sales School with Pavilion as taught by the software sales leader in the field, Ian Koniak.
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