Good evening everyone,
I want to thank all of you that have been reading along as I talk about the selling process. I also want to apologize for the delay. I have been sick lately and it has really taken a tole on me. I apologize, so to make up for it, I will add another blog along with this to make up for it.
Last week we started getting into the Rapport portion of the selling process and I apologize as I forgot to mention that you should be asking questions during the Rapport process as you are trying to gain influence as well as intelligence on your potential customer. You should also be using questions with those that are currently doing business with you.
So, with that I will get into the uncovering needs portion of the selling process. Keep in mind that all things in life require a process. Even when you wash your hands you have a process that was taught to you on how to do this thoroughly. Now if I could just get my eleven year-old to remember to wash after going to the bathroom…
Uncovering needs is a process of asking questions that pull information out of the person that you are having the conversation with. There are all types of questions from open / close ended questions, leading questions, personal questions, etc. You have to earn the right for the last one and usually after you have build up a relationship with the person that you are engaging. I tend to try and stick with open ended questions, but let it flow if closed ended questions come up.
The difference between the two is an open-ended question in one that allows the person responding to state something that can be used to go more in depth on the topic. An example would be to ask someone what is the largest factor that would allow you to see yourself as a success in your current position. A close-ended question is something that the person can respond with yes and no. Then there is no more depth to the topic.
I was told when I start in sales to always ask open ended questions. What I found is that it is hard to come up with all open-ended questions and people tend to start getting defensive when you keep prying more and more into their lives. That is why I tend to mix it up a bit. I let the conversation flow mainly out of curiosity of the person and what makes them tick. I am curious how people view their business and what they view as success, but also get to know them as a person. People tend to give up more information when they like you. In the book I am reading now called “Pre-suation” the author studied sales trainings to understand how sales works and how these people are able to persuade customers. It is a long read, but worth the time to understand the mind. The same person wrote the book “Influence”, which is another great book that I review usually once a year.
So on to uncovering needs… As you are asking questions to understand your target customer you are asking all these kinds of questions to understand where they have needs to become more profitable, likeable, have an easier life, beat the competition, etc. You are also aligning questions that highlight your benefits for the next step in the process. It can be product related, marketing, financing, design efficiencies, why you are better than Apple, etc.
For an example when I used to sell stand on riding lawnmowers that held inclines and fit in tighter areas that traditional lawnmowers, I would ask questions about if the customer has ever had any employees trapped upside down when a mower flipped over, or what areas do they have to maneuver around. I would follow up with questions about how they currently handle those areas and so on and so forth. I was aligning them with the fact that my product could move around and if the operator got into a bad spot, they could simply step off the back and be safe.
I would try to pull out as much information on current issues and if I could help them what would the customer view as a win for themselves. When the people feel the emotional impact of where they are and where they want to go, they become more open to you and trusting of you. I used it in the automotive industry talking to engineers as well. It works there even better because engineers will tell you all the issues of your competition if you let them!
So, listing out your best benefits to your product is a great roadmap to some questions you can start to develop for your product to uncover those needs that the potential customer has. This works when you are dating someone as well to find out what they are interested in to help you weed out the potential nut jobs that you need to run as far as you can as fast as you can from. 😊
So, take time to figure out your top five benefits of your product offering and where your competition has flaws so that you can build up question to ask your potential customer. You’ll need those in the future when you make it to selling your organization and product.
P.S. Try writing the topics down that you are asking about as this shows the potential customer that you are genuinely interested in them, and so you don’t forget what you talked about!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
Sales and Leadership Enterprises.