In the previous post, we took a hard look at building a more flexible sales process that is completely centered around your customer starting with Assessing Your Features From Your Customers’ Perspective. This practice helps you build your selling messages around the variable points that are truly meaningful to your customers.
But wait! There’s More!
In most sales meetings, customers feel like they’re being quizzed and the questions are all designed to help the sales person know how to sell to them, rather than how to “solve” for them. Instead of bombarding your customers with those brilliant feature points, keep asking questions, but wrap your questions around your features.
Asking leading questions can direct the conversation around the features you want to discuss without your customers’ guard being up about being “sold to”. Customers are more open to sharing and reach consensus easier when you’re asking value based questions and listening for their answers and how they’re relevant to your features.
Here are some examples of how to Frame Your Questions Around Your Features:
If you know your price is a competitive advantage you want to position, try asking –
“Have you been tasked with finding any cost savings in your budget?”
If you want to get to the conversation centered around your service, try asking –
“What does responsive service look like to you?” and then “Is your current supplier meeting those times?”
To direct the conversation around your customization capabilities, ask –
“Is there one small thing you just wish you could tweak about XYZ?”
If you want to gain access to more influencers, try asking –
“Where do new vendors usually get tripped up in implementation?” or “Who does this product/solution affect downstream or peripherally?” or “Can I meet your XYZ director to understand how making a change would impact him/her?”
To open up the conversation around your premium features, ask –
“Has poor quality ever really put you in a jam?” or “How often does poor quality affect or interrupt your productivity or process?”
Think about how you can position the value of your features in a way that’s relevant to your customers. Get into their context and frame your questions in a way that helps you deliver your value.
Stand out as a seller or supplier that is there to clearly deliver value by asking questions that bring about more meaningful conversations. Keep your sales process flexible and open to listening to your customers but be prepared to ask questions that lead customers down the road to the value you can serve up!
Until next time, stop hoping, start SELLING!
-sks
PS – If you need help framing your value and your features to connect with customers, contact us and let’s get strategic.
