Sales Fundamentals: From Lead to Close

Neil Rackham's team studied 35,000 sales calls. His SPIN questions run Situation, Problem, Implication and what?

• Next steps
• Need-payoff
• Network
• Negotiation

Answer: Need-payoff. Need-payoff questions get the buyer to say the value of solving the problem in their own words.

An inbound form arrives: right industry, right size, and they want a demo this week. What does sales call this?

• A qualified lead
• A churned customer
• A cold call
• A gatekeeper

Answer: A qualified lead. It has been checked for fit and intent, so it is worth a salesperson's time.

A lead has the budget, the decision maker and a real need, but says "maybe in two years". Which part of BANT fails?

• Budget
• Authority
• Need
• Timeline

Answer: Timeline. BANT is Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline. A two-year horizon fails the T.

Prospect, halfway through your demo: "It's too expensive." Your first move?

• Ask questions to understand the concern
• Offer a discount immediately
• End the call politely
• Repeat the price more slowly

Answer: Ask questions to understand the concern. "Too expensive" often hides another worry. Understand it before you answer it.

The seller opens at ₹50 lakh, and every counter-offer since circles that number. Name the tactic.

• Splitting the difference
• Anchoring
• Nibbling
• Good cop, bad cop

Answer: Anchoring. The first number becomes the reference point, which is why seasoned negotiators think hard before naming it.

Your walk-away plan if this deal dies is your BATNA: Best Alternative To a Negotiated…?

• Amount
• Approach
• Agreement
• Arrangement

Answer: Agreement. The stronger your BATNA, the stronger your position at the table.

Discovery call, minute two. Which question will get the buyer talking most?

• "Are you the decision maker?"
• "Is Friday good for you?"
• "What challenges is your team facing?"
• "Do you have a budget?"

Answer: "What challenges is your team facing?". Open questions let the buyer reveal real needs. The rest can be answered with a yes or no.

Winning each customer costs ₹40,000; each brings in ₹25,000 over their lifetime. Doubling sales will…?

• Double your profit
• Double your losses
• Halve your losses
• Make no difference

Answer: Double your losses. When acquisition cost beats lifetime value, every new customer is a loss, so growth just digs the hole deeper.

A 2011 study behind the book The Challenger Sale sorted about 6,000 reps into five profiles. Which profile was least likely to be a star performer?

• The Challenger
• The Hard Worker
• The Lone Wolf
• The Relationship Builder

Answer: The Relationship Builder. Challengers, who teach customers something new and push back, made up about 40% of star performers. Being liked was not enough on its own.

On a discovery call with a new prospect, who should be doing most of the talking?

• The salesperson
• The buyer
• The sales manager
• Both, exactly equally

Answer: The buyer. Discovery is for learning the buyer's needs, so ask good questions and let them talk.

A customer buying a laptop is also offered a matching mouse and a laptop bag. What is this technique called?

• Cross-selling
• Upselling
• Down-selling
• Cold calling

Answer: Cross-selling. Cross-selling adds related products. Upselling would be offering a higher-priced laptop instead.

At a conference, someone asks what your company does. Your crisp 30-second answer is known as your what?

• Cold call
• Sales funnel
• Elevator pitch
• Closing line

Answer: Elevator pitch. The name comes from the idea of pitching in the time a lift ride takes. Lead with the problem you solve, not your product list.

"This phone has a 5,000 mAh battery" is a feature. Which line turns it into a benefit?

• "It's the latest model."
• "It comes in three colours."
• "The battery is 5,000 mAh."
• "It lasts all day without a charge."

Answer: "It lasts all day without a charge.". A feature says what the product has; a benefit says what it does for the buyer. Ask "so what?" after every feature.

Sales teams log every lead, call and deal in a CRM. What does CRM stand for?

• Customer Relationship Management
• Client Revenue Monitor
• Contact Record Machine
• Customer Retention Metric

Answer: Customer Relationship Management. A CRM keeps the history of every customer conversation in one place, so nothing falls through the cracks when people change roles.

Showing a prospect that 50 firms like theirs already use your product leans on which principle from Robert Cialdini's book Influence?

• Scarcity
• Reciprocity
• Social proof
• Authority

Answer: Social proof. When unsure, people look at what others like them have done. Case studies and testimonials work for this reason.