The most important sales skill in the world  is hardly given any attention. Back in the 80's legendary sales training researcher Rackham proved that of the four phases of the sales cycle that the investigation stage (the sales interview) had the most influence as to whether a sale was made or not in the B2B space.

Why is the sales interview so important?

It is so because within the sales interview you accomplish the following:

- Build trust and rapport

- Qualify

- Learn their goals

- Preempt objections

- Uncover their buying criteria

- Develop ROI

- Shorten the sales cycle

- Uncover additional opportunities

Here we are 20 years later and most of the sales training I have seen is about elevator pitches, cold calling, marketing, handling objections, closing and presenting. I just read four books on sales training and not one of them went into the kind of depth I believe necessary to dramatically boost your skills in this vital area.

Furthermore sales people continually admit to me they talk too much and recent research from HR Chally suggests that the single biggest complain customers have of their suppliers is that they don't understand their business.

No matter which way you look at the issue the sales interview is the most important of all sales skills and it is not being taught well enough, consistently enough; sales people admit it and customers complain about it.

Here is what you need to do to elevate your sales interviewing skills… the most important of all sales skills.

There are five keys:

1. Mind set

2. Preparation

3. Question types

4. Question sequence

5. Note taking

1. Mind set: If you are to evolve into one of the great sales producers of your era or in your industry you'll need to adopt the mind set of helpfulness instead of the mind set of "I gotta make a sale". You telegraph your mindset to the customer and they can sense whether you are there to help them or to sell them. With one your job just got easier to do with the other more difficult. Herein lays the cause of why a large percentage of sales people under perform and struggle to make sales. What is your mind set and it is clear to all your customers?

2. Preparation: This means taking the time to do some research and to prepare written questions in advance of your sales meeting. You need to know what you are going to ask and why you need that information from them. If your mindset is right and if you are there to help that alone should clue you in to what you want to find out. For example you'll want to know about trends effecting their industry and company, their goals, CSF, key metrics they use to measure progress, their challenges and the costs of which if they remain unsolved etc. Preparation is the mark of the professional. I take written questions with me to every meeting. Do you?

3. Question types: there are at least 6 different types of questions we sales pros need to ask in a sales interview. And I do not mean open or closed ended questions. We need to categorize the information we seek and then lead the interview through those steps so that the interview is smooth and logical for the customer. We need questions focused on their goals, obstacles to those goals, pain of living with the obstacles, benefits of their removal and all the items associated with their decision making mechanics including DMC. As you can see those are distinctly different types of questions. One of the big mistakes many struggling sales people make is they fail to ask all of the different types of questions and in so doing leave a tremendous amount of customer knowledge and understanding on the table. This undermines their ability to prove value and ROI and to build a business case for inclusion in their recommendations. (And the customer either sees of senses this a mile away)

4. Question sequence: As implied there is a correct order to ask these different types of questions in. If you use the correct sequence yourself you will unlock all the knowledge you need to differentiate yourself in the market, get fewer objections, uncover more qualified opportunities, shorten the sales cycles and increase your conversion rates. And to think all of this is possible if you ask the right questions in the right order. Can you see why this is the most important of all the sales skills?

5. Note taking: The importance of this should be self evident given the theory behind the aforementioned four points. If you do not capture the key elements of their answers correctly and clearly you will undermine your ability to craft and design ideal, cost effective, relevant solutions for your customers. It is not unusual for me to take six to 15 pages of notes, in point form from a 60 minute customer interview. Accurate clear notes are critical to your success. Do you have any room to improve in this vital area of sales success?

It cannot be over stated how critical mastering the customer conversation or the sales interview is.

p.s. "no one can put you down without your permission" E Roosevelt