Handling Outrageous Questions

I was talking to sales rep for a company that manufactures competition-sized smoker/cookers.

He had sent a brochure, and I retrieved it when he called. My interest in the product was so-so,
but enough to stay on the phone with him.

Out of the blue, I threw out an off-the-wall question about the manufacturing process and the metal makeup. Which is pretty odd for me, since I had no idea what I was saying, and wouldn't
know what to do with the answer if I received one.

The rep replied, "Uhh, well, let me check on that and I'll get back to you."

He never did.

Early in the information-gathering phase with a prospect, have you ever had them ask you extremely technical questions that were out-of-the-ordinary?

How about outrageous requests regarding capabilities or service?

Often reps will stumble all over themselves because they don't know the answer, or because they are unable to provide the service the prospect asks for. Clearly not the situation you want to find yourself in.

Why do people ask these questions?

On occasion, they might be sincerely concerned and interested in your ability to provide the service, or to meet a certain unusual technical requirement. In other cases, they might be using tactics to belittle your service, or get you off of the phone. Or maybe they're just thinking out loud.

To determine the precise motivation for the request, you need to ask, "check questions."

Check questions help you to gauge how important the information is to the inquirer. The response dictates with how much importance and urgency you should prepare your answer.

Prospect: "Does it come with a left-handed gold-plated adapter with an Experience
Rating of 99.9%?"

Caller: "Hmmmm. Will that be a major concern of yours in the decision making process?"

After your "check question," you'll need to be prepared for the possible answers. In many cases, they'll say, "Not really, but I was curious," therefore meaning you could likely gloss over the request.

If they answer that the information will be important, you'll want to ask more questions to determine just how critical the request is, and in turn, you'll need to figure out how to answer
their request.

Here are other examples of "check questions."

After an outrageous request for service,
"Do you run into those type of situations very often?"

"How often do you need that type of service?"

"Are you getting that service now? How much extra are you paying for it?"

After nit-picky technical questions,
"Wow! Just out of curiosity, how are you going to use that information?"

"HMMMM… What will you be comparing those figures to?"

By using these questions, you'll sort out the sincere requests from the shoppers, stallers, and people who are trying to fluster you and make you look inferior.

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