How to Create Urgency in Sales

Helping Prospects Measure a Problem’s Impact

create urgency

When prospects are satisfied, they are not receptive to change because they have no need to change. It is only when they are unsatisfied or even in crisis mode that they are willing to consider other options.

That’s why it’s the sales professional’s job to move the satisfied prospect into crisis mode by learning how to create urgency. We can do this by asking discovery questions.

One of the most important discovery questions is the Impact Question. The Impact Question doesn’t offer a solution, but rather reveals the negative consequences or cost of not fixing problems or achieving goals.

Many of our initial discovery questions are Circumstantial Questions, but the way we begin to create urgency in sales is through the Problem/Opportunity Question. This question allows crises and goals to develop in both the mind of the prospect and the salesperson. Next, we leverage the Impact Question to shift the focus onto the consequences of not taking action.

Focusing on the Consequences

Buyers often put the seller on the defensive by asking us to defend our price or solution early on in the sales process. It is the sales professional’s responsibility to refocus the conversation on the cost of the problem, or the failure to achieve the opportunity, before defending the cost of the solution.

The best way to assess the consequences is not by handling objections. The best way to assess the consequences is best done during the discovery phase by asking about the consequences of failing, which means either failing to fix the problem or failing to achieve the opportunity.

Rather than playing the tired game of defending your solution, change the scenario early on by helping the buyer identify the cost of the problem/opportunity.

These are the objectives to remember during this phase:

  1.              If there is nothing at stake, then there is no problem.
  2.              We want to shift the focus from problems themselves to their impact on the business.
  3.              The value of the solution is directly proportional to the cost of the problem.
  4.              If you do this properly, you further extend rapport.

Revealing the Consequences

When discussing the Impact of the problems and opportunities you identified earlier in the sales process, it is important to remember that we are not yet offering a solution. In this phase, you should focus on developing the following topics:

  •      Evidence of the problem or its symptoms
  •      Gravity of the problem and its probable results
  •      Clarity of the situation’s cause and its effect
  •      Strengthening of the causal relationship
  •      Creating urgency through anticipated cost/outcome

Identifying Impact Costs

Focus your efforts on the following three areas to help prospects identify impact costs.

1. Financial

This category determines how much money the problem or opportunity costs your prospect.

Example Questions:

  • How would you measure the cost in dollars?
  • Does that impact you directly?

2. Competitive

This category illustrates how similar businesses have handled the same problems or opportunities, and how your prospect compares to their outcome.

Example Questions:

  • Does this hamstring your installation time?
  • Does this impact your relationship with your customer?

3. Personal

This category appeals to ethos, the buyer’s emotions and their own professional life.

Example Questions:

  • How does this affect you personally?
  • What would you be doing if you didn’t have to redo this?

Sample Impact Questions

  1.              What are consequences of not fixing the problem?
  2.              How does that impact your customer?
  3.              How frequently does that occur?
  4.              Does this affect employee morale?
  5.              Does this have the potential to hurt your reputation?
  6.              What is it now? What should it be? What’s the value of the difference? What’s the value over time?

Conclusion

During the urgency phase, we don’t yet offer a solution: rather, we ask discovery questions. The purpose of the Impact Question is to help aid the prospect in measuring their ultimate cost—financial, competitive, and even personal—if their problems go unaddressed.

By showing the ultimate impact of changing nothing, we can effectively move a formerly satisfied prospect into crisis mode and create urgency to find a plan and solve their problem and/or achieve their goal.