Have you ever asked for help in a store and received one of these dead-end replies?:
- “It’s over there.”
- “Everything’s out on the floor.”
- “Go ahead and help yourself.”
(Help myself? Why would I be asking you for help if I could already find it by myself?)
I heard that one the other day at a local store I was trying for the first time. Three people were standing around the register and, although I’d expressed a “need,” not one picked up on that communication.
When I was writing for pharmaceutical companies, their top-selling “representative” was invariably the person who focused on communicating with customers. She was the person who asked those pesky little probing questions. (They call this probing in the pharmaceutical world.) He was the person who brought donuts at break time, tempting the staff to sit down and talk to him. Top sales reps were always the people who, when a customer said no, answered, “Then let’s talk more about what you need so that I can find the best way to help you.”
The following questions are guaranteed to help you hear your customer’s needs. And remember: This isn’t for just their benefit; you do this so that they’ll buy from you!
1. Tell me exactly what you’re looking for (or, if you’re in a service business, Tell me the problem you’re trying to solve.)
2. So that I’m not wasting your time, what steps have you already taken to find (or solve) it?
3. If you’ve tried other solutions, tell me how they failed or fell short. If you sell a product, this information will help you recommend the best choice. And if you’re a service provider, finding out what hasn’t worked in the past is critical for your survival!
Lots of times, you’ll discover, to your surprise, that things went just fine with their previous vendor. If so, you owe it to yourself to ask,
4. If everything went fine last year, do you mind telling me why you’re making a change? I’ve heard some amazing answers to this question; dead give-aways like “We thought we could get it cheaper,” or “They refused to work on Thanksgiving” or “They wanted the contract in writing; can you believe it?!”
If this is how a prospect operates, you want to know it before you make them a client (or don’t). Either way, when you talk to your customers:
- Listen when they ask for help — whether they use the word or not!
- Ask those pesky, probing questions about what they need and how they’ve tried to get it
- Find out about their past “relationships” (other solutions that have failed)
And most of all, whatever else you do, please don’t tell them to “just help themselves”!
