Product Knowledge and Customer Questions

Never lie. Since I've been in sales, I've been taught that, if you don't know the answer to a questions, don't make something up. Admit that you don't know. Your prospect understands that you are a human being; you aren't expected to know everything. Besides, you should err on the side of caution. If you might know the answer and you tell them you do, you can end up being wrong and the result will be catastrophic when your prospect finds out you lied to them. Even if it wasn't your intention to lie, that is how the prospect will typically perceive it. Being untrustworthy is always worse than being unknowledgeable. If you don't know something for sure about your product or service, admit it without a moment's hesitation. It will save you a lot of headache down the road.
If you don't know, it is a good idea to admit that to your prospect. But do you know what is even better? To be able to say honestly and confidently, "Yes, I do know!" Saying I don't know to question after question can make us feel pretty ignorant and make us look like we don't know anything about what we are selling. It always better to be able to give satisfactory answers to our customers about our products. It is always better to know. That is where a good foundation of product knowledge comes in. The more we know, the more questions we will be able to answer. The more questions we can answer, the more credibility we have. And the more credibility we have, the more business we get.


But what about the question that comes out of left field? What about the question we have not been asked before? You have no choice, in this case, but to admit that you do not know. However, the next time the question is asked, you should be able to answer it without even thinking. You should never have to say "I don't know" twice to the same question. As a matter of fact, most of your product knowledge probably came about from finding answers to your customers' questions. You can learn all you want about your product but, if it doesn't answer the questions that customers will have, the knowledge is worthless.

My advice? Be prepared for questions before they are even asked. Ask yourself what questions you would have if you were the customer. Ask yourself what questions have been asked before by customers in similar situations. As you are asked more and more questions, you should be able to give better and better answers. If not, you either aren't listening or you aren't doing the right research. Focus on learning what you need to know to make the sale; focus on learning what your customers expect you to know. That is really all that matters.