The 2 Key Questions you just have to ask

OK, so you have got a referral lead and you are going to phone the prospect right now: what is the fastest way to qualify them and find out exactly what they want in your kind of product or service - if they have a need at all - so you know how best to present your offerings to them?

There are 2 key questions to ask a prospect to help you elicit exactly what they want in relation to your offer. There are further questions, but these are the main ones:-

Question 1: “What do you want in a (your product/service category)?”

Answer: The answer will identify the prospect’s key purchasing criteria – such as specific product/ service features and benefits, quality or service issues. This then enables you to focus on those criteria that you have established as having the greatest importance for the prospect. You can then present the benefits offered by your own products and services that correspond with these criteria - matching the prospect’s specific phrasing - and eliminate from the presentation other, less-relevant product/service features.

It is important to confirm these criteria with the buyer and establish through further questioning your understanding of their precise and mutually-agreed meaning. You can also qualify, quantify and agree the prioritisation of these issues for the prospect, and any relevant benchmarks.

For example: for the description ‘fast access speed’ as a criterion stated by a prospect for buying a computer network: how will ‘fast’ be evaluated? How fast? Compared with what? How does ‘speed’ feature as a priority compared with other listed criteria?