Feras Alhlou describes a sales lesson learned the hard way: after a training course taught him to ask 30+ qualifying questions, he used them all on a client in one meeting. The client fell asleep. He lost the deal.
Early on when I was learning how to sell, I attended a sales course. We had a great instructor, Marvin. He gave us a list of 30+ questions and said, if you get solid answers to these questions, you'll have everything you need to close a deal. So in my eagerness to land the next deal, I had a 1:00 PM meeting right after lunch. The client and I sat across the table. And I said, I'd love to learn more about your business. He said, sure. I asked the first question, then the next, then the next. His answers got shorter and I was taking copious notes. And when I looked up, he was dozing off. I literally put my own lead to sleep. Needless to say, I did not close that opportunity. But that's how we learn.
