So, I asked myself, "Should I start where they're strongest?" (Only 3% of over 2 million salespeople are weak presenters.) or "Should I start where they're weakest?" (Only 2% of over 2 million salespeople are strong closers.)

I'm definitely not gonna start with presenting. I'm sure that you get enough product, feature and demo training from the company. I'm also not gonna start with closing (even though virtually everybody can get better) because we've found that even reps that are weak closers can get business if they do everything else right!

I should mention that we measure 9 components in each of the presenting and closing competencies to determine strong/weak. So, we will get to them, just not first.

My #1 downloaded resource of all time is My Best Sales Questions. I don't share them anymore, but it suggests that many believe that asking more and/or better questions will help consultative selling (#4 on this page). Notice that we measure 9 components. The most important one is "Able to Stay in the Moment". In other words can you pay attention to what's happening rather than anticipating a response or planning your next 'move'? That's Sales DNA and we don't have time for that.

So, let's look at:

• Asks Enough Questions
• Asks Great Questions
• Able to Ask Tough Questions

Now, there are other components, but if you can learn this skill, you'll be better. I wrote an article earlier this year that focused on these three components.

As always, if you have questions, feel free to ask.