One obvious way to uncover pain is to talk about money – something that really seems to be a touchy subject these days. Also something that seems to be rather scarce to us college students as well! We had discussed in class ways to go about talking about budgeting and finances with your client in order to keep them feeling comfortable during your meeting at all times.
To be completely honest, I never really thought of money as being something awkward to talk about, but when I really give it thought, I can see why it is. Even in the simplest of situations, like a retail scenario, when the sales associate asks you how much you want to spend, and you give her x amount, I do admit that telling the associate my small and inflexible budget can be slightly embarrassing at times. Or in a corporate setting, when you are undertaking a big job that requires a lot of money and the salesperson blindly asks you how much you are planning on spending on this endeavor, it almost puts you in a predicament that you’d rather not say because of the directness of the question. When you put this sort of thing into perspective, you can see why this may be deemed uncomfortable to some people.
The best way to handle discussing a budget is to keep things open ended and providing a plethora of options to your clients. Although sometimes it pays off to be direct and up front, in this type of circumstance, you may not be able to close with that kind of mindset. You want your client at the front of your mind at all times in order to keep them satisfied.
Questions are also another great conversation director for this circumstance as well. You can never go wrong with questions, but you can go wrong with assumptions. Let the client choose what their budget is, and be flexible and willing to work with them. While this job may require the utmost of patience, your goal here is to close a sale, and you can’t do that if you’re speeding through the motions. Take your time and be personable! 🙂
Overall, money can be uncomfortable to talk about, but it doesn’t have to be when you do it with the right approach.
BoweryJE22
I love your point about giving the customer options. This will hopefully ensure that there is some sort of plan in there that will please the customer. Talking about money is a “painful” subject because it can tend to be uncomfortable depending on the customers situation. With the ability of the sales person to ask questions and be flexible, there is a good chance of both the sales person and the customer to walk away happy.
I agree with your point on asking questions to continue the conversation. I also think letting the customer choose what path they want to go is smart too. Like you said, you never want to make assumptions. So just keep asking questions and be patient.