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This is Part 2 in a series
of three articles explaining how to listen and respond to your buyer’s
unique challenges, as well as identify and sell solutions that work.
In the spring edition of
the Tracker, we talked about the importance of actively listening
to our customers—really tuning into their needs and concerns. Now it’s
time to think about the next step in guiding your client in the right
direction: using an effective questioning strategy.
While listening is crucial
to gathering information about your customer and her situation, asking
good questions is just as important. Successful salespeople use a balance
and blend of both skills to accurately judge their customers’ needs and
match them with workable solutions.
Setting the Stage—the
Value of Asking Effective Questions
It’s true: many salespeople have the gift of gab and many are hired for
this very reason. But if we’re doing all the talking, when or what are
we learning about our customer? A strong customer relationship is much
more than merely explaining why a customer should buy our wares—it’s
about continually finding out more about our customer’s needs and
tailoring a fit based on that information.
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
But all of us have missed the boat on one sales call or another. Have you
ever said after a client meeting, "Oh no, I should have asked her
that!" Have you wished you could have connected to your customer
better?
Maybe, six months down the
road, you’ve realized you’re missing a key piece of client information
that you should have asked before presenting your proposal. Those
realizations can siphon the selling strategy out of just about anyone.
It’s worth learning a big
lesson right now: effective questioning is valuable in everything
we do and in every decision we make. It gives us the power to help
our customer make good decisions, as well. Effective questioning must
happen all the time—every time we engage with our customer.
But it’s more than lip
service. In order to build trust with our customers, we need to understand
who they are, what their business is, and how they do business. That’s
where effective questioning comes in.
What's in It for You?
Besides learning a lot about your client and his business that you didn’t
know before, effective questioning can deliver a wealth of benefits:
• You gather richer
information that’s better geared to a tailored solution for:
You and your
customer: you improve communication and form a partnership.
You as a salesperson: you shorten the selling cycle by gaining
better information up front, making you better prepared to pose a
solution that makes sense.
• You position yourself
as a trusted, informed resource.
• You become
knowledgeable and enhance your ability to customize your product for
your customer. You’re no longer simply pitching a widget.
• You have more
information for future sales calls, allowing you to build a relationship
with your customer.
• You stand out from
the competition as a person who takes the time to listen and learn about
your customer—versus merely "telling and selling."
• You show your
customer you care. Don’t ever avoid asking a question because you
think you’ll appear uninformed. In fact, asking questions is a sign
you’re committed to tailoring the solution to your customer’s needs.
The 411 on Information
Gathering
Now that we’re moving into information mode, how do we really know the
scoop we’re getting is what we need? After all, as business people we’re
very complex—and our businesses are pretty complex, too. Often,
though, what’s shared up front between salesperson and customer is
superficial.
It’s our job to become
skilled in asking questions to unpeel the layers of a subject, to target
future opportunities—to go deeper and wider with our questions.
Don’t be satisfied with only basic information. Nurture your innate
human curiosity to get the answer that can enhance your connection to your
customer and her business.
Know, too, that information
gathering is an ongoing process that requires frequent revisiting—because
we work in a changing, evolving universe. Don’t rest on your laurels and
make assumptions based on past information (which can kill a sale!). Use
your questioning skills to stay current on what’s happening in your
customer’s world.
Prepping Your Questions
As with any sales skill, it’s worth practicing what you want to say
before you actually talk to your customer. Prioritize what you need to
know and when you need to know it. If you only get 20 minutes with this
person, what five or six questions would you ask her?
Think of the broader, big
picture questions—not just the minutiae. These are the kinds of
questions that let you piggyback more questions on top of them, giving you
a more accurate sense of your customer’s challenges.
Physically prepare your
questions. Script them, plan them, phrase them. If you know what you’re
going to ask ahead of time, you can concentrate better on the answers (and
give yourself time to ask more questions based on those answers!).
Know Thy Buyer's Rules,
Motives, and Politics
It’s a cardinal rule of questioning. Get a sense of what drives your
customer to do her job, to make decisions, and to forward her ideas on to
others:
• Key in on your client’s
personality style and tailor your questions to fit. Some people are more
numbers-oriented, while others will be more personal in telling you
their needs.
• Understand where your
client fits in the business’s hierarchy. Who’s the real buyer? Are
decisions made by committee or by the Big Boss?
• Know your customer’s
motivation to buy. Is it based on budget? Or on an emotional reason?
• Find out as much as
possible about your client’s business and needs up front; prepare
questions based on your existing knowledge and research—do what it
takes to learn about the company. That means homework.
• Pen the all-important
who, what, when, where, why, and how questions to expand the base
of your current information—they work!
Tailor Your Questions to
Your Customer's Style
Not only do you need to feel at ease when you’re asking questions, your
customer needs to feel that way, too. Evaluate your customer’s style and
custom-fit your questions accordingly.
By asking questions
early on, you also can field objections early on, and get a good
idea of how and why your customer buys. Otherwise, you won’t get what
you want and your customer won’t be comfortable sharing the information
you need.
Consider the following when
taking the pulse of your customer:
• Does your customer
stall? There’s probably somebody else involved in the buying decision
or he doesn’t have the power to make the decision (or may be afraid to
"risk" the purchase decision himself).
• Does your customer
show indifference to your service? Plant seeds of doubt about the value
she’s currently getting or the needs not being met—and don’t give
the competition any air time.
• Does your customer
appear skeptical or say he needs more proof? Give him the ammo he needs
to pitch the idea to his internal higher-ups. Use data, references,
demos, or pilots.
• Does your customer
appear to misunderstand what you’re saying? Nip it in the bud by
confirming the terminology you’re both using and by saying "Tell
me more about the type of call center services you’re using" or
"What does your current clinic look like?"
Listen for clues that show
you how to ask questions to get the answers you need.
• If you have a
customer who is unwilling to respond freely, use closed, short-response
questions to confirm factual information. "How many injuries have
you had in the past six months?"
• Employ open-ended,
"feeling"-type questions for your expressive customers.
"How do you feel about the way your call center is handling
customer concerns?"
Learn to be a good
questioner and the pay-off will last you a lifetime. Above all, remember
that effective questions need to:
• Get you answers
• Be phrased in an
effective manner
• Be appropriate in
sequence
• Identify a need
(before you can put a solution on the table, you have to address the
need first)
• Convert opportunities
to the customer’s need; use questions to discover "if I fix this,
are you willing to buy my new product?"
• Tie your questions to
your customer’s personality style and attitudes
What's Next?
In Part 3, we’ll address some hands-on ways for putting your
newly-honed questioning techniques to the test. Learn the types of
questions to ask to get good answers, view sample scripts of questioning
situations, and learn a strategy to put it all together. Watch for it in
the autumn issue of the Tracker! |