The need to find solutions to current or anticipated problems motivates people to buy. By asking versus telling, salespeople can uncover buyer needs such as:
- Will this new equipment improve efficiency and productivity?
- Is the quality of the product adequate for our needs?
- If I invest in professional development training, will it help me improve my skills?
However, these rational questions are just the beginning: as the saying goes, “people buy on emotion, they justify with logic.” The questions a buyer asks at a subconscious level may look more like this:
- Will this new equipment reduce my stress about efficiency and productivity?
- How will people perceive my decision to buy that product and will it build my personal credibility?
- To help me get promoted, should I invest in training?
We rarely identify our inability to decide as a symptom of that emotional tension. Instead we justify it with some logic metric such as timing or budget. We lack internal transparency.
Transparency is a Two-Way Street
The buyer expects transparency from the seller and, to be successful, the seller must help the buyer become transparent too, so salespeople achieve this by asking good questions throughout the sales process. Questions that focus on the needs of the buyer create transparency by revealing and resolving the emotional tensions in the buyer’s mind. Questions enable seller transparency by creating opportunities to place value propositions naturally into the conversation as solutions to both the emotional and practical needs of the buyer.
This is the delicate choreography of sales, because people cannot say yes to your sales offer unless they can also say no. Telling a buyer why your offer is best (even if it is true) will trigger a defensive response because this is the seller’s story only. Changing the choreography of the sales process to reveal the buyer’s story through good questions creates transparency in the process.
When the buyer’s story is fully revealed, all the emotional reasons to say no have been laid on the table and only then can a decision to say yes (or no) be made.
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