
OBJECTIVE: The Prospect feels understood!
The skill of qualifying is measured by your ability to ask questions that:
- allow the other party to feel understood …
- while establishing whether a viable sales opportunity exists.
To be proficient at this skill, you develop your ability to ask excellent:
- Open-ended questions.
- Closed ended questions.
- Questions that confirm understanding.
You know you are proficient if as a result of your line of questioning:
- Your prospect or client increasingly trusts you (feels more at ease with you and opens up).
- They feel that your questions are helping them clarify a problem.
- Your line of questioning helps them identify the real problem they face.
A framework of questioning covers the following bases
- Need
- Do they need what you have to offer in the first place
- Want
- If they need what you have to offer, what are their wants in relation to a potential solution
- Roles
- Who are the role players involved in making a decision on the solution that is to be selected
- What are their respective roles in the decision making process. These roles can be categorized into
- Decision Maker (Has the final say in the solution selected)
- Influencer (Influences the decision maker)
- Administrative (Facilitates the actual purchasing process)
- Affordability
- All factors that affect the ability to afford a solution including
- Cost of the problem
- Budget to solve the problem
- Credit worthiness
- Access to other sources of capital to solve the problem
- All factors that affect the ability to afford a solution including
- Timing
- How soon are they willing to invest in solving the problem
- When will a decision be made regarding selection of a solution
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