Questions That Sell: The Powerful Process for Discovering What Your Customer Really Wants

by Paul Cherry

Why ask good questions?

• Motivate your prospective customers to do the talking.
• Differentiate yourself from your competitors
• Demonstrate empathy for your prospective customers.
• Facilitate a prospective customer's awareness of his needs and help him come to his own conclusions
• Prompt a prospective customer to recognize the importance of taking action.
• Discover how a particular company makes a purchasing decision, as well as whom the decision makers are within the company.

Your opening sound bite in a pitch should hit on the emotional desire to overcome failure and/or achieve greater success. 98% of prospects want one or the other.

Start with warm-up questions. Don't sell too hard too early.

Ask about the past. For example:

• What would you say is different about your organization today from when you started with this company?
• What have been some of your likes and dislikes with vendors in the past?
• Since you have been with the company, what have been some of the biggest hurdles you have faced?

Questions to uncover problems:

• What problems are you currently experiencing?
• What's working? What's not?
• If you could wind back the clock or wave a magic wand, what would you change?

Questions to disrupt existing vendor relationships:

• How does your ideal situation compare with your current situation?
• If you could change one thing about your current vendor, what would it be?

Questions to strengthen existing customer relationships:

• How can we make your life easier?
• What is it that you value most about doing business with us?

The "why" question. Getting information on motives:

• Walk me through the steps that led you to this conclusion.
• Share with me what is motivation your decision to...?
• What's in it for you to implemen this....?

Your customers' decision making criteria: