Diagnosing the Customer’s Need

the first stage of the actual sale part
of the sales process is when we start to
diagnose what it is that your prospect
needs or wants
and understand which is which
this is the investigation or diagnosis
step of the sales process
your aim in this stage of the sales
process is to understand the individual
and organizational needs and priorities
so that you can assess the value of each
solution that you might offer to your
prospect
particular things to pay attention to
are fears
desires
perceptions
constraints
time scales
cost sensitivities
quality standards
and products or Services they've tried
before
we use a series of sets of questions to
help us to identify and understand our
prospects needs desires priorities
preferences
each one consists of a funnel of
questions which goes from the broader to
the narrow
each set of questions starts with broad
open questions
it then moves to detailed probing
questions to understand the nitty-gritty
and ends with checking or confirming
questions
to get an absolute sense of each detail
we start the whole process with a very
broad question like tell me about
or what problem do you need to solve
then we ask a series of probing
questions to explore the answer to our
open question in more and more detail
a great way to probe is with a question
that starts something like this
could you tell me a little more about
then at the end of each set of questions
we use simple closed questions to
confirm our understanding
so this is what I think you're saying is
that right
you may also want to extend this process
by suggesting a number of scenarios and
asking them some what-if questions
and again at the point that you
understand something make sure you check
your understanding and confirm that
you've got it right
if it becomes clear that you haven't
understood properly then go back up the
process and ask some more probing
questions to further refine your
understanding and then check again
once you've gone as far as you can with
a set of questions
then start a new set with a new broad
open question
and funnel down to a series of probing
questions and confirming questions to
understand the new piece of information
keep going with this whole process until
you've learned as much as you need
at the very least as much as you can in
the time available
importantly as you go through this
process always be listening and
acknowledging what you're hearing
I see
thank you
and always be taking notes even if you
feel that you don't need to take notes
to remember it
it shows that you are valuing what they
are saying when you take notes you are
saying that what you have heard is
important
the diagnosis stage is also where we can
make use of meal rackham's famous spin
selling process which he set out in his
book
been selling
this book sets out a list of four stages
but eliciting information from your
prospect
spin stands for situation
problem
implications and need
we start by understanding the prospect
situation the general context in which
they find themselves
then we ask about the problems that they
need to solve what is it that's keeping
them awake at night
the implications is where you start to
turn up the pressure on your prospect
you ask them what will happen if they
don't resolve their problem
also what will happen if they do resolve
it
this will help you to establish the
value to them
of the solution that you can offer
finally ask questions that allow them to
tell you what they believe they need
in order to resolve their problem
once you have a clear idea of what their
problem is and the need that they want
to fulfill you can end the diagnosis
stage with a pre-close
pre-close is where you say something
like this
if I could show you a solution that
would resolve this problem and within
your budget
would that be something you'd be
interested in
this is a question it would be hard for
them to say no to
if they do say yes you've got them on
the hook
if you can present that solution
then you are a long way towards a sale
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