How to Boost Buyer Urgency in 2 Simple Questions
It’s not enough for the seller to see that they have a problem. They have to also realize that the problem is serious, and that it needs to be fixed immediately. This post shows how to develop that urgency without jeopardizing the business relationship: we develop urgency by simply asking the right questions.
Program on Persuasion’s corporate sales training shows what questions to ask and when to ask them in order to pull your buyer into making a change, and how to nail the sale.
The Middle of the Funnel is the most important phase of the sales process, and because of that, it’s the hardest to master.
Remember: the biggest mistake sellers make is offering our solution too soon. In the Middle, we begin to see opportunities, so we are very tempted to jump ahead and jeopardize our standing business relationship.
In the Middle of the Sales Funnel, the seller gets to ask questions, but we never want to make the buyer feel pushed. When the buyer feels pushed, react in one of two ways. They either push back or they withdraw, and both of those options are bad for the seller.
This post details how to transition from earning the right to ask questions by establishing trust and rapport to actually asking the right questions.
Our corporate sales training’s research showed that we needed to establish trust before we start into the second phase of the business relationship, Discovery. This way, our questions will not feel like an interrogation to the buyer.
The Middle of the Funnel
Our role at this stage is to act as a think-partner to the buyer. In the Top of the Funnel, we built the credibility to fill this role, and now we get to benefit from the business relationship as well.
We are their consultant, and we bring value by making them think—not by providing solutions.
Remember: When you offer a solution this early in the business relationship, you move to the Bottom of the Funnel, and you typically will go by yourself. When your prospect is ready to enter the Bottom of the Funnel, s/he will let you know.
Why We Call the Middle of the Funnel “Discovery”
In order to pull your prospect toward the Bottom of the Funnel, we go through the Discovery Phase. Our corporate sales training has named the Middle of the Funnel “Discovery” because it is here that buyers discover the urgency of fixing their problems or attaining their goals. That means it’s not enough for the seller to merely see the problem, but that we develop the urgency so that the buyer will take action. We develop this urgency by simply asking questions.
How to Ask the Right Questions
The question is the most powerful tool in the seller’s arsenal. In order to ask the questions in such a way that the communication is successful, two things have to happen. First, we need to send a message, and second, the message must be received. After all, just because we said something doesn’t mean that it was heard. The best way to know if you communicated is not to tell, but to ask.
When buyers answer with an appropriate response, we can know that our question was received and processed. Here’s an example that I often use in my live corporate sales training sessions:
“Many of us drink coffee in the morning and some of us like to sweeten our coffee. We have the white packet of sugar, the pink one of Sweet’n Low; the blue packet… Which one is the blue packet…?” Invariably, someone in the group will shout out “Equal.” Here, I stop the exercise and state that I know the person who said “Equal” was listening. I know that my communication was received because of the answer they gave.
However, I do not know if my message was successfully communicated when I was telling about the other sweeteners.
Remember: the power of the question is that you control what your buyers think about—you just phrase it in the form of a question. In addition, I know whether or not my message was received by how the buyer responds.
Our corporate sales training guides the seller through four types of Discovery Questions. Below are the first two, the ones that transition into the Discovery Process by building urgency.
Circumstantial Questions
Program on Persuasion has designated the circumstantial question to use early in the Middle of the Sales Funnel. Circumstantial Questions provide us with a context for having a dialogue. If the last time you met your prospect, you discussed the education-based briefing, Circumstantial Questions can reference what you talked about then, and you can pick up the business relationship where you last left it.
Our corporate sales training has defined several other purposes for the Circumstantial Question as well:
- They can set up the next type of question
- They can clarify something
- They can give us context
How to Optimize the Circumstantial Question
Circumstantial questions are fine to use, but the danger is that we often overuse them. In fact, about 95% of the questions that professional salespeople ask are circumstantial. By doing some brief research, we can eliminate many of them from our conversation. Their elimination is preferable because for the most part this type of question is self-serving and leads nowhere.
In their most effective appearance, Circumstantial Questions set up Problem/Opportunity Questions.
Problem and Opportunity Questions
Our corporate sales training has designated the Problem/Opportunity Question to help the client discover potential problems and opportunities. The answers to these questions are also more interesting to the client than Circumstantial Questions. Problem/Opportunity Questions increase the sales person’s credibility, and they also demonstrate sincere interest to understand the client. They further bond the business relationship while earning valuable information for the seller.
Remember: Every buyer has problems and opportunities. Your job is to find them. Our corporate sales training shows you how.
Sellers should know where to look for symptoms and evidence without attacking their current supplier, your competitor.
Tips on Asking Problem and Opportunity Questions
It’s wise to begin with overarching questions about your prospect’s business goals and focus.
What you are asking for is intimate information. The way you can elicit intimate information from your prospect is to show them your intimate information first. Your education-based briefing provides this information. Although our corporate sales training teaches these two tools (educational briefings and questions) separately, they are typically used simultaneously.
We can show a statistic from our briefing in order to elicit a response. If we don’t get a response, we can initiate one with a Problem/Opportunity Question. These questions should be very subtle—especially at first, and sound something like this:
“Does that sound about right?”
In the Discovery phase of the business relationship, asking Problem/Opportunity Questions is asking if we hit the battleship. The answers really only inform us if there’s something to pursue.
If you have ever played Battleship, you know what to do when you finally “hit” something. We ask about the spaces next to the one we hit. We stay with this problem until we sink the war ship. When we finally get a hit on a Problem/Opportunity Question, we move into Impact and Desired Results Questions to stay on that problem.
Our problem/opportunity questions should demonstrate an understanding of a need or opportunity. The seller can increase their level of credibility with their insight into potential problems or opportunity and it demonstrates genuine interest to understand the buyer.
Here are some sample problem/opportunity questions:
- What is the most important initiative that you want to accomplish in the next year?
- What have you tried so far to remedy the problem?
- What do you think is missing?
- What are the top 3 things a customer wants from you?
Conclusion
To transition the business relationship from the Top of the Sales Funnel to the Middle of the Sales Funnel, we need to ask questions and develop urgency. Program on Persuasion’s corporate sales training shows what kinds of questions to ask without jeopardizing any of the rapport and credibility we have already earned.
Photo by Daria Shevtsova.