When engaging in sales conversations, understanding what the prospect wants is the key to closing a sale. Opening up the sales pitch with your monologue, it is beneficial to include something along the lines of “Why am I here for you today” to get them to start doing the talking. Of course, you probably won’t get out all of their needs right away, but it is a step in the right direction. As you continue talking, eventually you will get to their pain points and try and figure out what they are “hiding” from you and get to the bottom of their needs. An effective strategy to use is active listening. If you can get to your prospect on an emotional level, and show that you truly care about them, you can home in on their needs easily. They will start to bring out underlying problems that they might have, and it is the salesperson’s job to fix those problems the best he/she can. Once you understand their needs, it is pretty much smooth sailing from there. A customer never wants a salesperson who isn’t providing them with what they need. To avoid that, you have to make sure you know exactly what they want. This is not an easy thing to do but the more you work at it and experiment with different types of questions, you will get better at it. In my opinion, you have to share a bond with the prospect and build that solid relationship with them to truly get out of them exactly what they want. Of course, sometimes it is just not a good fit, but it is better to know that than coming out of the conversation with no idea what exactly it is that they want. To be an effective salesperson you must be good at getting to know the prospects’ needs.
By astrabmg22
BoweryJE22 3 thoughts on “Understanding Prospects Needs – Blog Post #9”
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Mike, well done on this post, I really liked it. As a salesperson it is so important to understand the needs of your customer. Prof. Sweet is always talking about traveling down the “pain funnel” to really figure out the needs of your customer. There are plenty of ways that you can do this, and you outlined some really great alternatives.
Hey Mike, I really enjoyed reading through this post. I really liked your point about open-ended questions, since those help us as salespeople understand what the clients want the best. That also allows the client to open up and elaborate on their needs.
hey Mike, love the post. You really captured the essence of effective salesmanship – understanding your customer’s needs through empathy and insightful questioning is key to building trust and closing deals.