Discovery
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once quipped at a press conference: "Does anyone have any questions for my answers?"
Like many successful communicators, Kissinger is carefully prepared with his message for his audience and he will find a way to deliver that message. As a salesperson, you likely have your certain answer ready too. After all, your recommendation and offer will probably include the suite of services, products, and strategies that you and your company represent.
So how do you create a situation where your solution is right for your client or prospect’s problem? Almost anyone will encourage you to ask questions to best understand the other party’s wants and needs. What questions do you ask though? Top performing salespeople are very strategic with the questions they ask. We observe them in effective discussions with clients and prospects and the types of questions they ask and the approach they take are outlined below. You can customize these examples to your selling environment.
- Current Situation Questions—these are generally the easiest for the prospect to answer because they are about the known, present state. Top performers typically begin with these easier questions because they get the prospect to open up and feel more comfortable. Examples:
- Tell me about your business.
- What are your current priorities?
- What key challenges are you facing?
- Desired Situation Questions—once you understand where your client or prospect is, it’s important to learn about where they’d like to be. Then you can position your solution as a means to help them travel from current to desired state. These questions are especially important when trying to cross-sell and expand an existing client relationship. Examples:
- What is your vision of success?
- Where would you like to be 1 year from now?
- What would you like to see more of or less of?
- Criteria/Expectations Questions--If you are effective here, you will not only learn how your prospect wants to get to his desired situation, but you will also learn how he wants you to potentially help him get there. These questions enable you to use assumptive language (e.g. As your business partner, how would you like us to follow up with you?...) Examples:
- What are the most important expectations you have of our product/service?
- What level of service are you looking for from us?
- Emotional Needs Questions—people make decisions, not companies. People are driven much more by emotion than logic. In fact, in most situations people can justify nearly any decision with logic if their emotions are leaning that direction: I feel most comfortable working with you, so we’ll find a way to make the numbers work. These questions draw out these emotional needs that lead to favorable decisions. Examples:
- If we achieve these goals, what will that mean for you personally?
- Why is this an important priority for you and your organization right now?
- What type of impact will this make on your boss?
Prior to your next sales opportunity, make a list of the most important current, desired, expectations, and emotional-based questions for your situation. Listen carefully to the prospect and you’ll learn a great deal about how to successfully position your solution based on what’s most important to your buyer. Ask away and watch your sales and relationships grow!