What do the best sellers do when a prospect asks a question that completely stumps them? How you handle that situation can make or break your deal.
Josh Rasmussen and
Eric Salvo tackle this tricky moment, explaining why rushing to answer is often more detrimental than your best guess.
Instead of making something up or freezing up, they guide you to pause and clarify before you dive in. They also introduce the BAMFAM concept and discuss the pros/cons of competitor bashing. Hint: blind overconfidence can bite you in the you-know-what.
Key takeaways:
- Push for the question behind the question. When a prospect asks a tough question, the reflex to respond fast is a trap. Asking a follow-up question to understand why they're asking gives you more information and buys you time to deliver an answer that actually lands.
- Build your cheat sheet before the call. The top five question categories come up in almost every deal: product, security, legal, competitive, and implementation. Mapping out probable questions and rough answers in advance keeps you from ever having to wing it live.
- Book a meeting from a meeting. If you leave a call without a next step on the calendar, the deal starts to cool the moment you hang up. Get the meeting booked before you end the call, then follow up fast with the answer you owe them.
Jump to the conversation:
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00:00) When prospects ask a question you don’t know the answer to
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00:28) Why this question stumps even experienced reps
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01:53) The right first move when you don't have the answer
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02:38) Why reps don't need to be the product expert
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03:18) How to get comfortable asking the second-layer question
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04:44) What happens when "let me get back to you" becomes a habit
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05:31) Owning it without losing the deal
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06:45) Building a pre-call cheat sheet that actually helps
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09:15) Using call recordings to load your answer bank
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11:00) BAMFAM and why booking the next meeting is non-negotiable
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13:17) What happens to a deal when follow-up is slow
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16:56) Blown call story: the meeting that started wrong before it even began
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21:17) The technical call that went sideways
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24:30) How to handle the prospect who opens with "what do you guys do?"
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26:34) Close Stall Kill: three ways to respond when you're stuck
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30:25) Flag on the Play: Why talking down your competitor always backfires
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33:26) The quick replay and key takeaways
What is Game Shape?
Nobody taught you how to handle it when a prospect hangs up mid-pitch. Or when your biggest deal goes dark on a Thursday. Or when you're one call away from quota and your stomach won't stop turning because you don’t know what to do next.
That's the stuff we’re here to talk about. Josh and Eric, two former athletes turned sellers, break down what it actually takes to compete in sales right now. The plays that work, the ones that don't, and the embarrassing stories in between.
No suit-and-tie energy here. We want to help you get your head in the game and make you the hero of your own sales story.
It’s time to get game-day ready. You in?