The Best Thing to Ask Potential Clients for Customer Conversion
A prospective customer will not convert unless they are in crisis mode. But sellers don’t look for buyers who are already in crisis.
Buyers know when they are in crisis, so they find their own solutions. Plus very few (something like 3%) of the market is in crisis mode at any given time.
What sellers do is show their prospective customers that they are, in fact, already in crisis. And they do it by asking the right sales questions.
What Should I Ask to Show My Prospective Customer That They Are in Crisis?
Once the seller and potential client have identified potential problems, we help them discover urgency.
For the full start-to-finish book on how to develop urgency in the Predictive Sales Funnel ™, click here.
Although your potential client may seem as though they are satisfied, every business situation can be improved. We just have to learn how to improve the situation without undermining their current decision or jeopardizing the business relationship. This can happy only through revealing the details about the potential client’s significant problems or real opportunities.
The Best Sales Question: What Does This Problem Cost?
Through asking sales questions on Impact the seller establishes the cost of not fixing the problems while building the business relationship. After all, if there is no cost, then there is no problem.
To learn how to isolate problems and opportunities, click here.
Remember, when we find a problem or opportunity, it will be the seller’s tendency to move into solution. Instead, we replace that habit with asking Impact Questions.
Impact Questions reveal the negative consequences associated with not fixing the problem or achieving the opportunities. The purpose is to help the buyer discover the pain. They must realize the pain associated with staying in their comfort zone.
As the seller, we need to make sure that the buyer evaluates the cost of the problem before they evaluate the cost of our solution. This is why we don’t discuss our solution until the buyer fully realizes the cost of the problem.
Examples of Sales Questions about Impact
Program on Persuasion has compiled a list of common Impact Questions that you can use as they are—or modify—to develop your business relationships and cultivate a sense of urgency:
- What are consequences of not fixing the problem?
- How does that impact your customer?
- How frequently does that occur?
- Does this affect employee morale?
- Does this have the potential to hurt your reputation?
How NOT to Convert Customers: A Warning
Although the consequences of inaction must be real for the prospective customer, change must be their idea.
If there is no impact to not fixing a problem, then of course offering a solution to that problem would be fruitless. We should avoid, however, telling the buyer what is urgent. Your potential client has the answers, but it is up to you, the seller, to ask the right questions to show them the impact of their problem.
When your future buyer realizes the gravity of their problem or opportunity, they will want to make a change.
Conclusion: The Role of the Impact Question
The role of the Impact Question is to help the buyer discover the effect of their problem. Through developing the business relationship, the seller not only shows their sincere interest, but also further establishes him or herself as a think-partner and moves their potential client into crisis mode. When the prospective customer realizes that they are in crisis mode, they look to convert.
Photo by Energepic.