Cherry - Questions that Sell

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ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

Questions that Sell will give you the know-how to tackle your most difficult sales challenges. Reading it will take your sales conversations with customers and prospects to a whole new level of engagement. Study and devour these concepts so you gain the competitive edge over your competition. Most important, youll solidify your existing sales relationships and win over prospects. You just have to ask the right questions. Questions that Sell is your tool to do so.

RICK FARRELL, PRESIDENT, Tangent Knowledge

Questions that Sell is inspirational and results-driven. Its a phenomenal resource that you can put into action immediately. Best of all, these solutions work so we can motivate our customers to take action. What really impresses me is how these questions shift us from selling products to delivering value. And thats what customers really care about. The bottom line is that QTS has helped us to grow our sales dramatically.

ANDREW FIRTH, GENERAL MANAGER, ArrowQuip

Questions that Sell will make us even more successful than we are today. Well differentiate ourselves, better understand our customers, quantify the opportunities, and document the value we deliver. As a result, the sky is the limit.

MARK BARTHEL, PRESIDENT, Springfield Electric

I found Questions that Sell to be a watershed moment, revealing deep-seated personal habits that blocked my true potential. Asking the right questions allows me to put aside my agenda to be viewed as an expert and desire to be liked. The QTS model proves that a talking prospect is a comfortable prospect. And comfortable prospects open up to share true motivations, needs, and pains. If your challenge is compulsive talking, storytelling, and a need to prove your value, then I wholeheartedly recommend Questions that Sell. After 15 years of professional selling, countless training sessions, and endless coaching, Ive discovered what I was missingQuestions that Sell.

ADAM DUFFY, SALES EXECUTIVE, Avantik

Listening is a skill and an art fundamental to business success. Good questions, however, are needed to shape and guide conversations. The insights Paul shares in this book improve your ability to ask more powerful, enlightening questions. Read this book. More important, apply the ideas and techniques that Paul provides.

BILL SHULBY, GROWTH STRATEGIST AND CHANGE AGENT

Paul Cherrys Questions that Sell has been a tremendous boon to me in my career. By focusing on customer needs and honing in on what motivates them, I learned to lead a conversation to a fruitful outcome through the use of targeted questions. If you find yourself doing most of the talking during a sales call, you arent maximizing your impact and potential with the customer. Pauls techniques and formulas will show you how to get customers talking about what matters to them. With this knowledge, you can lead the conversation to the outcome you desire. Whether you are new to sales or a seasoned veteran at the top of your game, Questions that Sell will help you to reach the next level and continue to grow. I guarantee it.

MAT LUCK, SALES LEADER

Its been an amazing experience to work with Paul. Questions that Sell delivers great insight into our sales process and will make a huge impact moving forward.

DARYL TODD, GENERAL MANAGER, Front Line Machinery

As a millennial seller, Questions that Sell provided me with a methodology for navigating the complete sales cyclefrom better prospect engagement to overcoming objections, and, most important, closing more business. It provides the framework for all sellers to incorporate the ideas into their sales style. Questions that Sell is a must-readwhether youre starting your career in sales or youre a senior salesperson with more than enough closed business in your pocket. QTS finds a way to build authentic client/customer relationships, while still continuing to grow a profitable book of business.

JOHNATHON JONES, AUTHOR, Embracing Adversity

Questions that Sell surprised me. I thought I was pretty good at asking questions and listening. After reading this book, I have a whole new view of the role of questions. The idea that questions are a great way to lead was one I had heard often, yet this book makes that concept real. The types of questions Paul Cherry describeswith examples and storiesbuild collaborative relationships, and both the questioner and the person questioned learn and benefit. Questions that Sell is a great reminder to me that when I think I know whats going on with another person is when it is often most important to ask. It gives me ways of doing that in a neutral fashion that bypasses my assumptions and actually gets results.

SHEELLA MIERSON, PH.D., PRINCIPAL, Creative Learning Solutions

The Powerful Process for Discovering
What Your Customer Really Wants

Second Edition

Paul Cherry

THIS BOOK IS dedicated to my wife, Claire, who inspires and motivates me every day. To my daughters, Brooke and McKenzie, who have humbled me to balance life and work. To my mom, who has the gift to engage any stranger she meets. To my dear friend, Patrick Connor, who has been a wonderful teacher and has raised the bar for me to be my best. To David Byers, who has been an invaluable asset to growing my business. And to Michael Boyette, who has done an awesome job crafting and polishing my ideas and has played a key role in helping me write this book. A big thanks to all of you.

THE ORIGINAL EDITION of Questions That Sell was published in 2006. In that edition, I argued that while salespeople are always facing new challenges, the fundamentals of selling are timeless.

I stand by that statement. The pace of change in business continues to accelerate. Industries have been transformed. Some have virtually disappeared. New ones have arisen. New sales roles have emerged. And yet even in the new economy, companies still need salespeople to sell their products and services.

That being said, the environment in which those skills are applied continues to evolve. The most profound change was already well under way when I wrote the first edition, and by now it defines selling in the twenty-first century: Everybody knows everything about everybody. Salespeople have access to much more information about buyersand buyers have more information about salespeople and the products and services they sell. As a result, the role of the salesperson as a provider of informationas a walking, talking brochureis obsolete. Your true competitive advantage is to be a