Many sales books talk about the importance of listening to the customer. Most share the belief that salespeople should talk 10% of the time and the customer 90%.
However trust must be earned before this listening rule can be applied. Most corporate managers will not disclose much without an NDA. Also most people don't want to air dirty laundry when talking to strangers. In some cases people just want context first.
As Keith Eades describes in Solution Selling sharing success stories helps earn trust and establish relevancy. I'd take it a step further. On a call yesterday with a major financial services company the prospect told me to demo our software first.
Even with all the public information about our products most prospects don't really understand what we do. Once that is clear then we have earned the right to listen and ask questions. If the prospect won't talk then it is imperative to find out what is happening.
A few months ago at the listening stage the prospect would not disclose much. I asked why there is no interest. The answer was that in his company without an NDA nothing will be disclosed.
He is very interested but timing is bad until a broader strategic review is completed. Don't be afraid to ask pointed questions and challenge vague answers. You have the right after spending time talking about the product.
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