Many of us in sales are taught to believe that the most important
job of the salesperson is to “find the need” of our prospects.
If we can uncover “needs” then our job is easy; we just need to
show our prospect how our product or service fills that need.
Right?
Well, the problem with that approach is that it only addresses
part of the pie. Think about it. What do you do when YOU need
something? Let’s say you need to buy a new computer; do you sit
around and wait, hoping that a computer salesperson is going to
call you? NO, of course not; you go out and you fulfill your
need.
So, as a salesperson, if people really NEED your product or
service they will pick up the phone and call you to place an
order. If that’s the case, why aren’t you selling more???
Oh, you say, they’re buying from your competitor. Or, you might
tell me, “Well, they just don’t KNOW that they need my product or
service; my job is to “find the need” and to “build their pain.”
Let me give you another way to think about this…suppose, just
suppose for a moment, that instead of just focusing on “needs”
we broaden our thinking: as a salesperson you want to find out
about what people DO. Your job is to find out and understand
what they’re doing now, how they’re doing it, who they’re doing
it with, when they’re doing, why they’re doing it that way, and
then to help them do it better. Makes sense, right?
When you adopt the “DO” philosophy over the “NEEDS” philosophy,
your thinking and the questioning will become much broader. By
asking “do” based questions you get better information from your
prospects, which in turn allow you to make a proposal that will
make much more sense to the prospect. And the only reason
people buy something is because it makes sense to them.
By asking “do” based question you are creating a conversation
which engages your prospect. When performed at its best, selling
is an extended conversation; it is not an interrogation by the
salesperson, and neither is it a “product dump” where you aim to
tell your prospect anything and everything you can about your
services.
What are some examples of “do” based questions? Well, here are
a few:
* “What are you currently doing about _______?”
* “I’m just curious, what made you decide to do it that way?”
* “How did you decide to do that?”
* “What are you hoping to accomplish in the next quarter, year,
three years...?
* “Tell me exactly what you do here?” Or, “tell me what your
key areas of responsibility are?”
* How was this decision made in the past?
* Will the decision process be the same this time around?
Take some time to make a list of questions that you can ask that
are relevant to your business. Some of the questions may not
seem to have a logical or direct tie to your product or service;
that’s OK. In fact, that’s good! By focusing on what your
prospects do and how they do it, you are opening up the whole
dynamic of your sales call into a true conversation; one that
will help you better understand the goals, objectives, and needs
of your prospect. By broadening your conversation in this way
you are then able to make the proposal or recommendation that
will make sense to your prospect.
And, in the end, the only reason people buy something is because
it makes sense!
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