Becoming Your
Customer’s Business Ally Using The Titan Principle™
by
Ronald E. Karr, Karr Associates, Inc.
Do
your customers perceive you as a valuable resource?
Establishing this early in the relationship earns you
their time, interest, and attention. However,
salespeople often ask initial questions that don't support that
all-important goal.
The
Titan alternative to the traditional sales interview is:
-
Issues-based
questions
-
Illustrative
questions
-
Clarification
questions
-
Consequence
questions
The Issues-Based Question
Issues-based
questions focus on finding out where the other person is trying
to go. People love
to talk about that! Issue-based
questions sound like this: "What are the three improvements
you're most interested in achieving for your organization as a
result of the training program?"
Prospects
are highly motivated to answer intelligent issues-based
questions. Aren’t
we all in a hurry to get to where we're not?
Issues-based questions show your interest in their
goals, demonstrating you're capable of "being there"
to turn those goals into realities. That's Step One in positioning yourself as an invaluable
resource.
The
responses to these questions will center on these four elements:
improved profits, improved productivity, reduced costs, and
increased competitive edge.
To
verify you get all the necessary information that is critical to your
success ask illustrative, clarification and consequence
questions. These
create a clearer vision of what your customer is facing and the
value proposition necessary to help achieve key goals.
The Illustrative Question
The
illustrative question encourages the prospect to "paint a
picture" for you. It's
a request for an expansion on a recently raised topic.
If
you are selling retirement investments funds, the illustrative
question might be: "Please describe a typical day in your
ideal retirement scenario.”
You're
encouraging the prospect to illustrate the "big idea"
he or she is talking about.
The clearer that picture is for you, the better off you
both are.
The
Clarification Question
With
the clarification question, you're asking the customer to
provide workable, in-depth definitions of a specific phrase
that's important to him or her: "How would you define
quality in your terms?"
One
person's definition of a word like "quality" could be
very different than somebody else's.
When people use words, they aren't thinking about the
dictionary definitions of the words.
They are drawing on their biases and experiences.
If
someone says, "I need quality," and you answer
"Okay, let me show you how we can give you quality,"
there's a problem. You're
offering a solution with out knowing what the other person is
talking about. Instead
ask a clarification question - “When you say ‘quality,’
what does that word mean to you?”
The Consequence Question
The
consequence question sets you up for the value proposition. It's the key question for introducing positive change.
The
consequence question highlights the consequence of your
prospect's doing nothing and ignoring the resources you offer.
If there are no consequences to doing nothing and staying
with the status quo -- why would anyone change?
The
more compelling the consequences you build up, the easier to
demonstrate that the cost of staying is going to be greater than
the cost of the change you're identifying.
If you can ask consequence questions that "hit 'em
where they live"- you will get the business!
Consequence
questions can’t stand alone.
They certainly can't be the first questions you ask a
prospect or customer. They
have to be preceded by the other questions.
Whether you ask a clarification, illustration, or
consequence question depends on the situation, the concerns of
the other person, and your sense of how the sales interview is
unfolding.
Here
are two examples of effective consequence questions:
1.
What will happen if you do not find a way to reduce your
customer hold time from 24 minutes to 2 minutes?
2.
"Mr. Customer, what's really at issue here, cutting
your costs by 17% or saving as much money as possible?
By working with us at our current pricing and utilizing
all of our services including our national computer system, we
can cut your costs significantly more than 17%. Here are the statistics to prove it.”
Practice
developing issue-based, illustrative, clarification, and
consequence questions. Write
down each of the questions and identify them all by category.
Do this to get used to this type of questioning, not to
create a script. Once
you have a handle on the best ways to develop questions based on
your customer’s input, you'll be ready to become your
customer’s business ally.
©
1999 by Karr Associates, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
This
article is excerpted from Karr’s The
Titan Principle™- The Number One Secret to Sales Success.
Ron Karr is a professional speaker, consultant, trainer
and author who specializes in helping organizations to dominate
their marketplace and assisting individuals to get closer to the
people they serve. Ron’s Titan
Principle™ has generated tremendous results for his
clients in the areas of sales, negotiations and customer
service. Call 800-423-5277, fax 201- 461-5621, or visit Ron’s
website, www.ronkarr.com,
for information on results-oriented services and learning tools
(including his books, The
Titan Principle™-The Number One Secret to Sales Success
and The
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Great Customer Service).
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