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Uncovering The Customer’s Needs
Identifying and
uncovering customer’s need is a key starting point in any sales discussion. Sometimes
customers will volunteer their needs and priorities, i.e“I'm looking for something that
will help us save on our stock holding costs”.
More often, however,
needs and priorities have to be explored, and there are three ways you can do
it:
§ by asking questions
§ by making statements
§ by using a
combination of questions and statements
Questions are
generally safer and more productive but they have to be carefully used. There
are two types of questions that can be used and each has a particular purpose.
The types are open questions and closed questions. Open questions are
designed to obtain answers that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no.
Questions will:
§ keep you in control
§ slow down the
conversation
§ give you more
information to help you to find customer problems and needs
§ give you time to
think about your options
§ encourage the customer
to talk
§ help to explore
feelings and attitudes
§ help to check
understanding
A) Open Questions
They are useful for
getting facts, opinions and feelings from the other party. Open questions can
be identified by prefixes such as: how,
what, why, where, who and when. They require the customer to think and give
a reasoned response. They provide a means of uncovering needs and opening up an
issue for more detailed and closer analysis.
B) Closed Questions
Closed questions are
used as a means of focusing on an issue or problem. They can often help to
identify an issue more precisely. Such questions often start with: is, could, should, would, can, will, isn’t
etc. They require responses such as ‘yes’ or ‘no’, i.e. to agree or
disagree; confirm or deny.
Open-ended questions
are preferable for two reasons. First, they allow the customer to develop their
own answer rather than putting words into their mouth which they may reject.
Secondly they encourage them to talk, which at the beginning of a sale is important.
You want a dialogue, not a monologue.
For example, if you
ask a customer, “Does your organisation
carry out training?”The answer will be either yes or no. If you wanted the
customer to discuss the particulars of their training policy, you could ask:
“What types of training does your organisation carry out at the moment?”
“What staff skills is your organisation looking to develop in the next
six months?”
“What has been the result of having a training policy in your company?”
Use open questions
when you want a customer to explain or discuss something. Closed questions
should be used when all you need is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Use both types of
questions to gain better control of your sales conversations. It is also
possible to shorten calls by effectively using open and closed questions. At
the beginning of most customer calls you need to learn what the customer wants,
so you would use open questions. Later, you may need to employ closed questions
to get the customer's agreement, to understand a service request or just to
manage the conversation and your time.
Open questions begin
with: HOW, WHY, WHEN, WHO, WHAT, AND WHERE
Examples of open questions:
If you were selling Time Management training courses to a
HR director you might ask the following:
§
What
challenges do you face in completing your day to day planning and prioritising?
What processes are used?
§
How
do you assist your staff to cope with change?
§
How
effective is your sales force?
§
In
the ideal world, what is the one thing you would change in your day to make you
(the company) more effective?
§
What
areas would you like to alter or improve?
§
What
do you get as feedback as to problems your people face in terms of productivity
and effectiveness?
§
What
particular changes are you experiencing at the moment?
§
How
happy are you with the performance of your marketing dept?
§
How
well do your meetings run?
§
What
challenges do you (your team) face on a daily basis?
§
What
demands are you experiencing in regards to time and organisation?
§
What
seems to be the real issue?
§
What
impact would you say this has on you (your organisation’s) results?
§
How
is this impacting on (personal time, your company’s quality process, and sales
results)?
§
What
other effects might it have? (or side effects)?
§
What
other issues arise when (delegation isn’t carried out, meetings run late,
projects overrun)?
§
What
kind of effect does it have on customer service?
§
How
do your customers feel about that?
Closed questions
begin with words like: DID, CAN, HAVE, DO, IS, WILL, AND WOULD
§
Is
your company going through change and transition like so many others?
§
Are
you happy with the performance of all your sales people?
§
Do
you get as much leisure time as you would like?
§
Are
you completing everything you would like in a day?
§
Are
you satisfied with………?
§
Can
you expand on that for me?
§
Are
there any other concerns?
Any statement can be
“closed” by following it with a question. For
example:
“I would like to send you a brochure about our products. Will that be OK?”
“I’ll call you back by four o'clock with the information you need. Is there anything else you’d like to know?”
Other examples of closed questions you can use at the end
of statements include:
§ Do you approve?
§ Will you participate?
§ Is that a good time
to call you back?
§ Will that be all
right?
Short closed
questions can also be used to obtain the customer's agreement. For example:
Our representative will be there on Friday. Will that be OK?”
“You have two sides of the business that need improving. Is that correct?”
Some of these
examples sound like you are giving the customer a choice. However, you are
basically asking for a confirmation of your statement.
Suppose you were
arranging an appointment for one of your sales representatives. The only open
date you had to offer was Tuesday at nine o'clock. You could say:
“I'm sorry, Miss Johnson, but the only date Mr. Stevens has open is
Tuesday at 9am. I hope that will be OK.”
This statement is
poorly phrased. It could be stated more positively if you said:
“Miss Johnson, I have arranged for our sales representative Mr. Stevens
to visit you on Tuesday at 9am. Will that be all right?”
The customer might
still request a different date but your statement sounds like you have taken
positive action.
This article has been extracted
from one of our training course books. Our training materials are developed by
experienced trainers and consultants.
Impression Training runs
courses related to this topic.
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