Don't assume... ask questions! One of the most difficult aspects of sales is knowing what's going on in the customer's head. Is he interested or not, how much would he like to offer, when would he like to start the process, what's bugging him, etc.? Would it surprise you to know that, every week without exception, brokers explain to me why this or that approach didn't work by saying "I thought that", "I assumed that", "I couldn't find out", or my best "I was thinking in my head".

Would it also surprise you to discover that to double, triple and even quadruple your sales, you literally have to get "out of your head" and into your customer's head instead. This is achieved by developing the skill of asking questions. Imagine for a moment the caricatured image people have of a patient in a psychologist's office; the client lying on a couch, the shrink sitting with his notebook and... asking questions. But why? Because it works.

The concept itself is very simple and obvious; the difficulty is in the application. We practice the art of asking questions every week with our One-on-Ones and my experience has shown me that there are two main reasons why you don't ask questions. The first is that it's a very difficult art to master. The second is that you're afraid to hear the answers, because you're afraid you won't be able to answer properly. As for the second point, the reality is that you're in front of a buyer or seller who wants to buy or sell, and it won't happen until "their" problems are solved, and you can't solve them if you don't know what they are. In other words, it's only by asking the questions that you'll know how to sell to them.

Imagine if you knew the answers to the following questions:

• Which property do they prefer?
• How will they use this or that room?
• How much would they like to offer or ask for?
• Will they be ready to sign the contract tonight?
• If not, why not?
• Do they intend to meet other brokers?
• What's their plan B?
• How much capital outlay do they have?
• What are their annual revenues?

Believe me, ask the questions and they'll answer!

Getting back to the first point, it's a very difficult art to master. It's not for nothing that psychologists devote many years to it. The objective in selling is to get the customer to move through the process and choose to move forward... or not. Once again, if the customer is there, it's probably because he wants to move forward. So it's in your best interest to help them move forward.

In conclusion, the art of selling is far less complicated than you might think. Get straight to the point, don't assume.