And yes ... that's where we are. As I reread this article, I'm thinking that maybe we're pushing the envelope a little too far. But knowing how to ask the right questions can be decisive. Decisive in the sales process, decisive in recruitment for the recruiter, in consulting or coaching, in medicine, in short, just about everywhere.
Mastering an appropriate questioning method is essential in these areas.
In sales, when we talk about "questions" we often also talk about a "discovery plan".
We had shared with you our 5 tips to avoid missing your discovery phase in another article.
As a reminder, a discovery plan should enable you to identify your prospects' potential "problems" that your solution could solve, and to subtly convey that these problems can be solved by your product.
Today, we're back to the questions that make a good discovery plan. 👇🏼
To begin with, here are the 2 types of questions you'll use in your sales pitch during a discovery phase:
1. Open-ended questions: who, what, where, when, how, why?
The open question:
- Perfect for letting prospects talk about themselves, setting the tone, the expected level of granularity and practicing active listening.
- Calls for a detailed, constructed response.
- Allows you to start a conversation and above all to get your prospect talking.
2. Closed questions : yes or no answers.
The closed question:
- Gather factual information.
- Calls for a short and expeditious response.
- Do not engage in discussion.
- Perfect for summarizing what you've just said to each other, so you can move on to the next step.
Be careful, this meeting must not resemble an interrogation! The art of questioning, or of a good discovery plan, is to learn as much as possible about your prospect while maintaining a semblance of conversation.
Remember: the best of us, during our sales meetings, manage to make you forget that you are a salesman.
The discovery plan consists of 3 stages:
1. Basic discovery questions
Objective: to check if your prospect is in the target group and to allow you to gather important information for the rest of your exchanges.
You can mix question types: open and closed questions.
Examples of basic questions:
- What is your position within the company?
- How many employees do you have?
- What is your complementary health insurance?
- Do you have a car?
- Etc...
If, at the end of this phase, your prospect does not match the typical profile, it is time to end your conversation. You have the proof that your prospect corresponds to the target: you can refine your knowledge by attacking the qualifying questions.
This phase of the discovery plan will make a lot of sense to you, as it enables you to quickly determine whether your prospect could be a potential customer, but it will make much less sense to your prospect. So try to move fast.
Tip: To avoid giving the impression of an interrogation, do not invest more than 5 minutes.
2. Qualifying discovery questions.
In the qualifying discovery phase, you're right at the heart of prospecting. Now that you know that the person you're talking to is a potential buyer, you're going to find out more about their habits, their behavior, their motivation - or even their motives! Etc.
At this stage, it's crucial to use an effective questioning technique: ask open-ended questions and, above all, let your interlocutor speak.
This is where you have to be a master conductor.
- Bring out the problem using this type of questioning.
- Make your prospects want, and even urgently need, to solve this problem, so as to turn them into potential new customers.
This phase is similar to a discussion, and is therefore much more sustainable for your prospect. It's often the most technical phase of the discovery plan, and you need to invest more time in it, especially in the argumentation.
For example, and very concretely at Modjo, we could ask them how the prospect manages his current customer interactions and whether he uses a CRM for this, and bang! Our solution comes to the table because we've brought the problem to the surface thanks to the right question.
Tip: Invest at least 27 minutes, but leave time to lock in the "next steps" at the end of the conversation.
The unavoidable questions:
How do you deal with (the problem you detected)?
Obvious question. In addition to acknowledging with your interlocutor that he has a "problem" he will share with you his frustrations related to this problem. This is where it all starts. If there are no frustrations, then I regret to say that it will become extremely complicated for your sale to succeed. If there are frustrations then follow through.
"I must admit that since we no longer have running water, we only take our showers on rainy days... "
Howlong has it been?
This question is super important because it allows you to know how long your prospect has been dealing with this issue. You help him or her gain perspective.
"It must be well over two years now"
Andhave you considered a solution or do you not plan to solve the problem right away?
I love this question because it immediately sets the tone for the rest of the conversation. If the prospect is satisfied, you'll have to look for the little bugger. If, on the other hand, your prospect is already starting to complain, you're in good shape.
"Yeah, we tried to do some plumbing ourselves so it wouldn't cost us too much, but we blew up the boiler...we need to come up with a solution that doesn't cost us too much."
What doyou like about our service/product?
It may seem extremely surprising to you, but no matter whether your prospect is an inbound or outbound lead, BtoB or BtoC, you'll see that they'll respond to you. Some may say "you contacted me, I don't know anything about your product", but we've thought of everything and here's what you can say. It's up to you to create the need by asking a question or even several questions that highlight the added value of your product or service, in order to win the prospect's loyalty and convince them to take action.
"I'll admit I don't know much about it, but in broad strokes, I like the fact that your tool allows you to do ..."
And what don't you like at all?
Likewise, take notes to guide your speech, and try to dig deeper and find out why. If your proposal avoids these pitfalls, insist on it. On the contrary, if what you are selling has the same issues, evangelize the prospect on the reality of the market.
"I think your product is too expensive for what it pays"
If you've reached this point, it's a good sign. Your prospect understands that your product brings value. He's simply minimizing that value, and in his head the objection "it's too expensive" is taking shape.
But to avoid the end of the drawing, follow on.
3. Questions that put their finger precisely on the spot
These questions are part of the qualifying questions phase. That's it, you've identified your prospect's problems. Now you need to ask specific questions to make them realize that it's time for a change.
That's where the best of us are. Put yourself in your prospect's shoes for two minutes, that's when he understands the whole circus you've set up.
That you asked him a series of questions to formulate or reformulate a problem.
That thanks to your questions, he himself recognized that the problem was significant and that a solution had to be found.
That's when you know how to ask a question, or rather THE QUESTION, in a different way, enabling him to see the situation from a new angle, and that he'll have to move forward, probably even invest in a solution that resembles what you're selling, thanks to a skilful reformulation of his problems.
- What would happen if the problem persists?
- How does this affect your goals and those of the company?
- How does this affect your delivery times?
- What effect does this have on your employee(s)?
End of the discovery plan. Congratulations!
If you've made it this far, it's because you've been able to gum up the odds that this prospect will be very interested in going further.
To end on a high note:
- Recap the meeting by asking closed questions. Your goal: to get positive answers, or to be more exact, as many "yeses" as possible!
- Suggest a next step based on your conversation, such as a demo appointment.
You'll find several articles on sales techniques on our blog to help you make the most of your chances at the demo, so don't miss out on our top tips!
Has this article given you any ideas? Do you have questioning techniques or a discovery plan that works?
⚡Send me an email to: paul.berloty@modjo.ai
Best,
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