Identify Customer Needs and Values

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Identifying Customer Needs and Wants

• Chapter 12

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Probing

• Probing is the process of getting information
• that is necessary to . . .
• Discover customer needs
• Find solutions to problems
• Complete the sale
• Probing is also called needs analysis or
  discovery

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Probing

• How to identify what your prospect wants and why
  they want it
• Reconfirms and supplements the customer profile
• Reveals factors such as practices, values and
  goals, restrictions, problems and needs, and
  loyalties
• Is where good preparation pays off
• Probing can reveal prospect is not aware of
  problem or need
• Often when you are introducing new idea or
  technology

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Probing

• The most successful salespeople stay away from
  high pressure tactics
• Your job is to understand business needs as well
  as personal needs
• Goal is to create such a strong partnership or
  professional relationship with the customer that
  they will benefit from working together over the
  course of many years
• Your products and services must fit the general
  business decisions the customer has already made
• Decisions must result in profit

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When to Probe

• Probing occurs . . .
• At the beginning,
• In the middle,
• At end of a call
• The most extensive probing occurs at the
  beginning of the call
• There are a few exceptions
• A businessperson with very limited time
• A purchasing agent or buyer in a large company

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How to Probe

• Skillful probing uses many different types of
  questions
• Closed questions with a factual answer
• Open questions that invite sharing
• Confirming and clarifying questions that help
  you understand
• Commitment questions that move the call toward a
  sale

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Areas To Probe

• There are six major categories of information
• that may be collected during the probing
• 1. How the buying decision is made
• 2. Business or production goals
• 3. Relevant business or production practices
• 4. Expectations -- how suppliers are evaluated
• 5. Current loyalties and perceived results
• 6. Unmet needs and unmet expectations
• Effective probing generates information in each
  category

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1. How the Buying Decision is Made
Areas To Probe . . .

• Selling and buying are processes, not events
• Probing must uncover how these processes works
• Who makes the buying decision?
• Who influences the decision?
• Is the decision made quickly or only after long
  analysis?
• What types of things does the customer normally
  consider when making a decision?
• The two main clusters of information you want
  to uncover are their goals and the decision
  process

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• 2. Business Goals Most businesses find their
  goals are clustered into three categories
• Cash flow -- Describes the movement of cash
  through the firm
• Profit -- Measured as operating profit or return
  on investment
• Market share -- Proportion of the total market a
  specific business has captured
• Many salespeople find that business owners make
  decisions differently from managers
• There are often several people who influence the
  decision process
• It is critical to understand how the organization
  makes decisions

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3. Business Practices
Areas To Probe . . .

• Every business is unique, just as every person is
  unique
• Understanding the way an account does business
• is essential to knowing how to . . .
• Tailor your product and service bundle
• Position your company and yourself
• Choose the best selling points and benefits --
  those that match the way your prospect does
  business

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• 4. Expectations Long-term, mutually beneficial
  sales relationships are built on a strong
  foundation of customer satisfaction
• Customers who are not satisfied do not generally
  tell the salesperson unless it is severe
• Customer satisfaction is a function of
  performance and expectations
• Customer satisfaction is within the control of
  the salesperson, who
• doesnt control product quality
• sometimes doesnt control service quality
• does control the quality
• of their own performance
• Customer expectations must be managed

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• 5. Current Loyalties and Perceived Results
  Loyalty is not dead!
• There is a lot more loyalty to a person than to a
  product or a company
• Almost every experienced salesperson has been in
  a situation where his or her price or service
  package was not the best in the market, and yet
  the customer chose to stay
• It is useful to probe into a prospects loyalty
  patterns. What kinds of things are likely to
  generate loyalty?
• Price, Product performance, Services,
  Relationship
• If you understand who the customer is loyal to
  and why they are loyal you can develop strategies
  for getting and keeping the customer
• A prospect is someone elses customer

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5. Current Loyalties and Perceived Results.

• Sometimes, probing reveals a need to the prospect
  that they didnt realize they had. They may be
  unaware of...
• A new product, service, or practice
• How a marketing program could help
• How a new technology could simplify and solve a
  problem
• A business that offers a truly higher level of
  service
• Probing is a dialogue that allows the salesperson
  to diagnose the needs, values, opportunities and
  goals of the customer as an individual and as the
  owner or manager of a business
• Two key skills are involved . . .
• Productive questioning
• Active listening

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• 6. Unmet Needs and Expectations
• In business-to-business selling most prospects
  are already someones customer
• While they may be reluctant to speak about it . .
  .uncovering some level of dissatisfaction that
  might be brewing inside a prospects mind can be
  a powerful discovery and very useful in
  developing a selling strategy
• Unmet needs and expectations are even more
  important when dealing with your own customers
  because they represent areas of vulnerability
• Whether the problem is factual (real problem) or
  a perception founded on a misunderstanding the
  impact on the customer is the same
• Uncovering these areas of weakness allows you to
  correct the problem -- before you lose them to
  another company

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6. Unmet Needs and Expectations.

• Information about dissatisfaction with a current
  supplier
• must be handled very tactfully since the
  prospect. . .
• May be defensive about a previous decision
• May want to protect their current relationship
• Might be suspicious of you
• When you sense a level of dissatisfaction, gently
  and tactfully suggest a positive you offer.
  Store that information and later build a selling
  point around that issue

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Productive Questioning

• There are four basic types of questions

Open questions
Closed questions
Clarifying questions
Confirming questions
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Open Questions
Types of Questions . . .

• Its only when a person listens that they can
  truly learn
• Open questions do not have a yes or no answer
• They ask the customer to give a slice of the
  world as they see it
• Open questions start with the following phrases .
  . .
• Tell me about
• What has been your experience with
• What do you think about
• How do you
• Why do you

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Open Questions
Types of Questions . . .

• Open questions are often used near
• the beginning of a call
• They get the customer talking
• Can be a way of building rapport
• Can help salesman learn more about the business
  or the customer
• Near the beginning of the call these questions
  help channel the rest of the call to those topics
  that are most important to the customer

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Open Questions
Types of Questions . . .

• Open questions are invaluable
• when the salesperson meets customer resistance
• Why do you think this process
• wouldnt work for you?
• Open questions help the salesperson uncover
  expectations and measure customer satisfaction

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Closed Questions
Types of Questions . . .

• Are useful for gathering specific information
• - facts, figures, trade-offs,
• specific problems or issues
• What results did you get?
• What products did you use?
• Where have you been purchasing?
• Who has been helping you there?

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Closed Questions

• Three cautions salespeople should observe when
  using closed questions . . .
• 1. Closed questions -- near the beginning of a
  call -- can steer you off course
• 2. When salespeople are new (or nervous), they
  may sometimes ask a closed question and then
  answer it themselves, before the customer has a
  chance to think it through and answer
• 3. Some salespeople fire off closed questions as
  if they were holding an interrogation

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Closed Questions
Types of Questions . . .

• Customers may give information once willingly,
• but they dont appreciate being asked
• the same questions several times.
• Salespeople find that customers dont mind
• the salesperson taking notes,
• especially if they are asked permission.

• Ask permission to take notes
• Take notes

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Clarifying Questions
Types of Questions . . .

• Effective clarifying questions represent two
  skill sets
• Ability to ask a good question
• Ability to listen
• Clarifying questions play back what the
  salesperson has heard and ask the customer to
  clarify or explain a little more

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Clarifying Questions
Types of Questions . . .

• Clarifying questions have three very important
  functions
• Show the customer the salesperson has been
  listening
• Help the salesperson check the implications of
  what he/she has heard
• Encourage customers to give additional, important
  details as they correct misunderstandings or
  explain what theyve said

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Confirming Questions
Types of Questions . . .

• Allow the salesperson to check for
  understanding
• Simply help the salesperson check their facts,
  perceptions and understanding
• Have I got that right?
• That was 30,000 finished cattle a year?
• Most of your technical support comes from your
  representatives then?

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Commitment Questions
Types of Questions . . .
Commitment Questions reaffirm the prospect
agrees. You may reaffirm the prospect agreed to
purchase a product or service, or simply that
they agree with one of your selling points.
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Building a Question Flow

• Good salespeople often use questions to drive
  or direct the sales call
• The nice thing about using questions is . . .
• questions allow the salesperson to work through
  the entire sales process in a conversational
  manner rather than high-pressure presentations or
  making a speech

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Building a Question Flow

• A good description was developed by Neil Rackham
• in his book . . .Spin Selling
• Begin by exploring the situation
• Uncover any problems or obvious opportunities
  for improvement
• Investigate the implications of those
  problems/opportunities
• Develop a need payoff (what would it be worth
  to solve the problem) and ask for agreement

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Building a Question Flow
Situation How did your hybrids
perform last year?
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Listening

• Listening is the most critical probing skill
• Human beings are often inefficient or poor
  listeners
• People seldom will tell you that you are a poor
  listener
• They just find somebody else
• who will listen

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Why Listening is Difficult

• Five common reasons people dont listen well.
  They.
• are bored
• dont really care about the speaker or his/her
  opinions
• do or think they already know what the customer
  is telling them
• cant focus on someone else for very long
• are nervous and/or preparing the next thing they
  want to say

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Effective Listening

• Effective listening is active listening
• Listen to everything the customer says
• Listen for the way the customer says it
• Carefully observe all non-verbal communication
• You must pay attention to three types of
  information
• Facts
• Feelings
• Non-verbal cues

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Listening for Facts

• Use clarifying questions or re-phrase what you
  just heard to help make sure you have heard and
  understand the implications of what the customer
  is saying
• Sub-verbally support the customer and encourage
  them to keep talking Oh?, Yes, I see,
  uh-huh, a raised eye-brow, nod of the head
• Take notes, draw diagrams or fields, or draw
  organizational diagrams
• Never answer your own questions
• Never interrupt the customer or stop listening
  before the customer has finished answering
• Try not to get side-tracked by interruptions
  such as the phone, beepers, other employees

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Listening for Feelings

• Feelings may be more important then facts when a
  customer is making a major purchase
• Pay attention to how fast the customer is
  talking. The rate of conversation can be a cue
  for
• excitement about a problem or opportunity
• nervousness about an issue
• eagerness to move toward a result
• Pay attention to how much information the
  customer shares. In general customers share
  information when they
• are comfortable with the salesperson
• believe the salesperson might be able to help
  them
• have a complaint
• want to communicate their expectations

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Non-verbal Cues

• Sociologists tell us that much of our
  communication occurs through non-verbal messages
• 55 percent non-verbal communication
• 38 percent tone of voice
• 7 percent only through the words themselves
• Non-verbal communication includes . . .
• Actions
• Gestures
• Body posture
• Facial expressions

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Non-Verbal Cues

• Customers often provide important clues about
  their state of mind, non-verbally
• Leaning away can be a sign of discomfort
• Leaning forward is a sign of interest and
  involvement
• Leaning back, arms behind head, or standing with
  one foot on something indicates they feel
  comfortable
• Crossed arms may indicate defensiveness or
  holding in of feelings
• Furrowed brow may mean you need to slow down and
  allow the customer more time to ask questions and
  process information
• Pursed lips may indicate impatience or anger
• Nervous leg-shaking or pencil-tapping may
  indicate anxiety or a need to move the call along
• Looking at a watch or clock means the salesperson
  is out of time
• Expert salespeople not only read their
  customers non-verbal communication They control
  their own

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Keeping Track of What Is Learned

• It is a good idea to actually record
• important information about key accounts
• or high priority prospects
• Information about the decision maker
• Information about business goals
• Facts about the business
• Critical success factors for the business
• How they evaluate their suppliers
• Satisfaction with current suppliers
• Opportunities for improving their results
• Unmet needs or expectations

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Transition To The Presentation

• At some point, the customer expects the
  salesperson to process what (s)he has heard
• Present ideas or solutions
• Describe products and services
• Explain how you can help them
• This transitional period is sometimes called
  arousing interest
• It is a bridge between uncovering basic needs and
  values of the customer and providing alternatives
  or solutions

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Arousing Interest

• There are several possible ways to manage this
  transition
• Sometimes it happens naturally, the customer is
  clearly ready to get down to business
• Sometimes, the customer waits for the
  salesperson to make the transition
• When you feel you have a good grasp of the
  customers needs, values and problems, it is time
  to move into the next stage

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Arousing Interest -- Transition Tactics

• Select a technical feature or program that might
• be useful, based on what has been learned
• Arouse curiosity in potential results
• Begin customizing a product / service bundle
  that fits this particular customers needs
• Use a testimonial
• Show a personal analysis this is particularly
  expected on the second or third call
• Set up a hypothetical what if?

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Summary

• Probing is a process of discovering a prospects
• needs, values, and problems through . . .
• Diagnostic questioning
• Listening
• Capturing
• Probing involves several types of questions
• Open
• Closed
• Clarifying
• Confirming
• Probing is highly useful in the early stages of a
  call
• but is a tool used extensively throughout the call

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Summary

• Salespeople must be excellent listeners
• Hearing and confirming spoken information
• Listening for feelings
• Observing non-verbal signals
• The customer expects the salesperson to offer
  information, ideas, and solutions that involve
  their products and services and generate
  significant benefits for them
• Building a bridge and generating interest in
  hearing your story can be critical to selling
  success
• Utilize all information collected to tailor a
  sales presentation that uniquely fits each
  customer