Asking the Right Questions Helps Sell Security Services

In our article about the importance of listening to your clients when trying to sell security service, we outlined the six principles of the Consultative Sales Process: 1) Research; 2) Ask; 3) Listen; 4) Teach; 5) Qualify; 6) Close.  For this article I thought we would step back and take a look at principle #2 Ask, to see how to use it to sell security services.

It has been my experience that buyers often believe that salespeople are more interested in making a sale than helping solve their problems.  In order to be successful in selling your company’s services, you must get your buyer to see you as more than just a salesperson.  You must get them to see you as someone who cares about their business and is there to help them solve their challenges.  So how do you do that?  The answer is, by actually being someone who wants to help them solve a problem.  But in order to truly help the buyer you have to understand their business and the obstacles they face.  The research that you do prior to your meeting will provide some general knowledge about their business.  But for the knowledge that you will need to help solve a problem, you will have to ask the buyer some very thought-provoking and pertinent questions.  The questions that you ask are crucial in opening a dialogue  and gaining the insights that you need to help them.

Types of Questions

Your capacity to sell security services will depend on your ability to master asking three types of questions.  The three types of questions are: 1) Fact Finding; 2) Open-Ended, 3) Closed-ended questions.  If you can master asking these types of questions, you will be able to begin positioning yourself as more of a consultant than a salesperson.

Starting With Fact Finding Questions

Fact finding questions are very general questions and are meant to provide a verification of information that you may already have.  Examples of fact finding questions are:

  • What time are the officers expected to arrive on post?
  • Who manages the security contract?
  • How many employees do you have at the facility?
  • What type of incidents typically occur?

You Sell Security Services With Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions are the real foundation of consultative selling.  Open-ended questions give you the information that you will need to develop a proposal that provides the buyer with an answer to a problem.  These questions usually begin with who, what, when, why, where, and how.  After asking a fact finding question, probe for a deeper understanding of the buyer’s business using open-ended questions.  For example, the fact finding question might be “How many security guard providers have you had over the past 5 years?”  Depending on the answer your open-ended question might be “What has contributed to such high/low turnover?”

Beware Of Closed-Ended Questions

Close-ended questions are not very probative and can be counterproductive when trying to establish a dialogue with a buyer.  Close ended questions can usually be answered with a simple “Yes” or “No”.  Keep in mind that closed-ended questions should probably not be asked unless you already know the answer.  Close ended questions typically begin with words like “Do”, “Are”, or “Is”.  Examples of closed ended questions are:

  • Do you currently use security guards at your property?
  • Are you satisfied with your current security provider?

Now imagine getting a “Yes” answer to the last question.  That would effectively close any real opportunity to have further discussions about your service.  Again, be careful about the close-ended questions that you ask.

To effectively sell security services, sales professionals need to move away from the transactional approach of selling to a more consultative approach.  The transactional approach is based on telling buyers about your service’s features, benefits, and pricing.  It is very seller focused and ignores the needs of the buyer.  Conversely, using consultative selling to sell security services combines your company’s interest with the buyer’s interest.  In the end, the goal of asking questions is to get your buyer to explain to you how your company can help them solve a problem.  If you sell security services and walk away from a meeting without knowing at least three problems that your buyer faces, you didn’t ask enough questions.

If you sell security services have you switched from transactional selling to consultative selling?  If so, what have been your results.  Please leave your comments below.

By Courtney Sparkman 

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