A problem exists in the world of sales training, where the sheer volume of “fluff” and outdated content far exceeds the amount of substance that is truly valuable in today’s selling environment.

Tom Freese’s latest book, SalesForce 2020, has taken the Question Based Selling methodology to new heights, as he compares and contrasts the difference between outdated sales methods with what sellers can do to give themselves and ‘unfair’ advantage moving forward.

Have you ever wondered why some salespeople in your company or industry are “killing it,” while others are struggling to survive, even though they are all following the same basic sales process? It’s because the sales process is no longer a differentiator. All of competitors have a sales process in place already, and their process is probably very similar (if not identical) to yours.

These days, success in the sales profession is all about execution. Those sellers who are able to execute more effectively, whether it be using advanced strategy and technique to penetrate new accounts, qualify the opportunity, understand the customer’s needs, navigate to the right people, or secure commitments, those sellers will have a distinct advantage over their struggling counterparts who are commoditizing their value by relying on outdate sales tactics that have plagues the selling profession for the last 40 years.

While hindsight may indeed be 20/20, many of the old school sales tactics that have been touted for decades no longer make sense as we rapidly approach the year 2020.

Might it be time for an upgrade?

“The best thing about Tom Freese’s work in Question Based Selling is that the techniques he outlines actually stick, making it easier for our sales team to integrate into their daily routine. QBS has truly improved our sales effectiveness across the board.”
                                    —Mitzi Rettinger, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Cerilliant

I just returned from the other side of the globe, having trained one of our multi-national Life Sciences clients on Question Based Selling. With an audience of salespeople and managers on hand representing most Asia-Pac regions, it turns out that there are more cultural similarities in the sales profession than differences.

For example, in what cultures do you suppose it’s important to gain credibility, convey value, or differentiate your value proposition? That’s right, those are important in all cultures. Thus, I took the opportunity to point out that just having a sales process in place no longer gives sales teams any advantage, because all of your competitors have a sales process in place too, and theirs is probably very similar to yours.

That’s where things got interesting, talking about “how” best to position the various products and services within the different companies and cultures. All around the world, someone who understands “how” to execute more effectively than the competition, and “how” to help the customer accomplish their objectives, will prevail over anyone whose sole focus is just trying to make a sale.

Congratulations to Singapore for their 50 year celebration of independence since 1965!

“If you want to challenge the customer’s thinking about a product or service, you might first want to challenge your own on how it’s being positioned.”  T. Freese

My first book was originally published in May of 1999, fourteen years ago this month—so this is a milestone anniversary of sorts. I have since published three additional sales books and a parenting book,along with countless articles,all of which have evolved into the Question Based Selling Methodology. Literally thousands of salespeople and hundreds of sales teams have been trained on the QBS Methodology, which continues to evolve and grow.

During this time, my first book (Secrets of Question Based Selling) has done exceedingly well, and become my publisher’s number one bestselling business book with multiple runs over the years. It also has the distinction of having outsold itself every six months for the past thirteen and a half years…and counting.

You never know until a book is actually released whether it’s going to hit the nail on the head, but my intentions with this first book were clear from the beginning. I wanted to publish a timeless work where issues like the salesperson’s need to gain credibility, pique the customer’s interest, and convey value were strategic concepts that would never go out of vogue. So, it’s no surprise to me that these concepts are just as important to the success of a salesperson now as they were when the ink was fresh in 1999.

That said, I am happy to report that I have spent the last ten months updating this book for re-release in the fall of 2013, entitled Secrets of Question Based Selling: Gold Edition. Essentially, I have taken the proven strategies of QBS and adapted the material to the current competitive environment. I have also added a new layer of anecdotes, examples and content to with that I believe pulls the QBS Methodology together into a tighter and even easier to implement package.

With a target release date of November 2013, we are hopefully on track to extend the relevance and longevity of ‘QBS’ for another 14 years. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement on this truly unique journey.More information about the book will be forthcoming as the release date nears.

If you want to ramp up your sales numbers for this quarter or the entire year, you might try focusing on being more effective, rather than simply focusing on the process.

It’s ironic but true that most of the training that has been delivered over the past 30 years has focused on defining the sales process rather than how to execute more effectively. While I agree than having a standard sales process in place can be a good thing, if you look around virtually any sales team in any company you will find that some salespeople are killing it while others continue to struggle, using the same exact sales process. Why does this phenomenon occur? Bottom line: It’s because the sales process in and of itself is not the differentiator.

Can we agree that most of your competitors have a sales process in place, too, and it’s probably one that is very similar to yours’? Hence, just defining the steps of the process doesn’t give your sales team any advantage. For example, everyone knows that Step #1 in the process is to identify new opportunities. The challenge salespeople now face on a daily basis is “How” to execute more effectively, given that a plethora of other salespeople are calling the same accounts, with the same objective of penetrating new business.

What’s Step #2 in the process—to qualify or uncover needs? Have you noticed that prospective customers are reticent to give out information to salespeople they don’t yet know or trust? How is a salesperson supposed to execute effectively when customers aren’t open to sharing information with a salesperson they don’t yet know or trust?

Follow the process! What process? Just identifying the steps of a formalized sales process doesn’t ensure your success. Perhaps this is why when I first come into a client account some salespeople are struggling, while others are knocking it out of the park; calling the same types of accounts, and the same types of people.

Execution has more to do with skills development than simply beating your head against the wall following some old-school sales process. Today, one of the major differences is dealing with customer skepticism. Let’s not pretend it doesn’t exist. Customers are more standoffish toward salespeople than ever before. Therefore, the ability to cause prospective customers to “want to” share information with a salesperson they don’t know or trust has become quite a challenge.

While most process models are built on the premise that customers already want to share, Question Based Selling takes the opposite view—that you must first pique the prospect’s interest and earn credibility in order to get prospects to open up. How exactly do you do that? That’s where the odyssey begins—toward you becoming a student of the question-based sale.