Questions to Ask During Sales Consults

Selling can be tricky, especially if you are a bit timid when it comes to asking for money. It’s a problem that many trainers face, especially because they love what they do and would likely do it for free.

However, YOU DESERVE TO GET PAID! If you are successful with your business, you’ll be able to help more people. You’ve put in the work and you’ve earned the title of fitness professional.

Before any of these 10 questions can be effective, you need to believe that statement!

Once you’ve got the right mindset, selling is simple. You can follow a straightforward process that helps you learn more about the person sitting in front of you than ever before and gives all the answers you need to be able to show them you are the best solution for their problems.

The 4 phases of a sales process are Engagement, Discovery, Value Building and The Close. In this article you’ll learn the questions that you need to be asking in the Discovery phase of your sales consultation.

The Sales Consultation or Success Session

Sales consultation sounds so…salesy though 🙂 . So let’s call it a Success Session—a term that I created for the sales appointments that a trainer sets with leads to find out if they are a good fit for their programs.

This simple change in language can help you overcome your sales fears and will make the meeting a lot less intimidating for the new clients you’re meeting.

During your Success Session you need to spend a great deal of time in the Discovery phase of the sales process. This is the part of the Success Session where you are learning about the issues, challenges, goals and fears that the client has for themselves.

This is more important than any assessment or sales pitch you could make because without it, you’ll be guessing at what the client wants and needs. When you guess you leave the sale to chance and you’re likely to leave the session with the person walking out the door never to return.

Nothing happens until the sale is made! You can’t help the person lose weight, feel better, move better, gain confidence or improve in anyway if you don’t close this deal!

You also need to understand that the person sitting in front of you in the Success Session doesn’t care about your credentials, your fancy assessment or the cool equipment you have in your facility.

They certainly aren’t going to be impressed by the big words you use to describe movements or you taking a hard stance on “never using the word toned”!

They care about one thing…themselves and getting the results they want!

10 Questions You Must Ask

Question #1: What are you hoping to accomplish by hiring a trainer?

This question sets the stage for both parties in the Success Session to understand that this meeting is about hiring a trainer. There’s no mystique to it! They are there because they need help.

You’ve gained access to their most valuable asset, time, so use it wisely to find out exactly what they want.

Question #2: What does success look like to you 1 year from now?

There are lots of ways to frame this question such as “if we’re meeting 1 year from today, what needs to happen for you to consider our time together a success” or “if we’re talking 1 year from today, what do you need to look and feel like to consider that year a success?”

The goal here is to future cast their thought process and get them thinking about the goals they want to achieve. This question will cut through the bland answers of “lose some weight” or “tone up” that you’ll get in the first question.

Question #3: What do you want to look/feel like when you’ve reached your goal? Describe in detail.

This will help you understand the true meaning of success for the potential new client.

It’s important to ask these goal setting questions several different ways so that you can get a complete answer. You’re going to learn a lot about what they want from each of the above questions.

Using positive questions about goal setting will help you transition to the challenges they are facing now.

Question #4: What prompted you to call/email us to meet?

This question starts to give you a look at what got the person to take action.

A lot of times if you dig a little behind the answer to this question, you’ll find the motivating reason that someone is wanting help.

Question #5: You want to [insert goal here]. Tell me how you feel not being [insert goal here] now?

Ah, the emotional side of things…

It’s time to start digging a little deeper now and find out how the person is feeling emotionally and what they think of themselves. Emotions drive our decisions more so than rational thoughts.

It’s usually not just about a look or a weight but rather a feeling that an individual is seeking. Find out what they want to feel like, and you’ll have a lot to work with to motivate them later as well.

Question #6: How did you get to where you are today?

This is usually a tough question, but it’s really important. Find out how they ended up feeling and looking the way they do now.

They aren’t happy about it and they want change so find out what changes or life situations led them to their current state. This will tell you if that person was always fit, always unfit or had something change that led to being unfit.

Question #7: What’s the biggest obstacle keeping you from reaching your goals?

This question helps you and the individual your meeting with see what’s holding them back. They get to voice their concerns and challenges out loud without being judged.

You’ll also get the first look at what you’re going to have to help them overcome to get the results they want.

Question #8: Why can’t/haven’t you been able to do this on your own?

When positioned correctly, this question will reinforce the fact that the person needs your help. You’ll also learn about the challenges you’ll face and have to overcome to help them succeed.

It’s important to establish the fact that they need support, and this question does that without you telling them.

Question #9: Imagine that you’ve finally [insert goal here]. How do you feel when you walk by the mirror and see yourself like that for the first time?

You’ll want to circle back around to the positive side of things and get them to paint you a clear picture of what it will be like for them to reach their goals. How they will feel. What their reactions will be. The emotions they will experience.

You need the person to connect with those feelings and be able to see it clearly. Remember, it’s more than just a look you’re after, it’s the feelings and emotions that will be the most powerful.

Question #10: The MOST Powerful Question

There is one word that will be more powerful than any one question you can ask during the Success Session.

“WHY?”

It may be framed as “why do you feel that way”, “why do you want to [insert goal]”, “why didn’t that work for you”, or any other extension of one of the above questions.

Most times the person you’re speaking with won’t open up fully and give you the complete picture in their first answer. You’ll need to ask follow-up questions to get the answers you need.

A great rule of thumb is to act like a toddler…asking why 5 times after each initial question to get an in depth answer.

What Do You Do With All this Info?

The information you get during the Discovery Phase is critical to you being able to establish value in what you do and how you can help.

You should be able to have the person paint a picture for you, with their answers, of a before and after of themselves. It’s their current state and their future state.

Your job during the Value Building phase is to show them how you will help them each step of the way. It’s the paint the picture of the journey phase and how you’ll help them overcome all their challenges and obstacles.

When you’re able to do that, your sales will improve and your business will grow!