Most salespeople have been taught how to do a basic needs assessment. They ask questions to find out what their prospect’s needs are related to their specific products or services. While understanding basic needs is valuable, it’s not enough.
It’s more important to discover the wants of the prospects. Let’s look at the differences between needs and wants. Needs are product or service specific; wants are not. Needs are fact-oriented; wants are perception-oriented. Needs are situational; wants are ongoing. Needs are rational; wants are emotional.
Buyers purchase based on emotions and rationalize based on needs. For example, most people need transportation; they want a red sports car, a sexy convertible or a rugged SUV however. So they buy the rugged SUV, because that is what they want. Then they rationalize their purchase by explaining that an SUV will give them the extra cargo space for the family to take vacation trips.
To discover the prospect’s wants, you have to dig down to that emotional level of what is truly important to a prospect and why. You must dig below their surface needs and discover why they want it. Most prospects will be somewhat reluctant to share their wants until they trust you. So before you can probe, you must make sure that you have really connected with the prospect. Once that is done, you are able to ask more personal and probing questions related to your product or service like:
• What happens here that frustrates you more than anything else?
• What changes would really satisfy you?
• What do you want most of all?
• What kind of results would really make you happy?
The answer to these and other similar questions will give you a distinct advantage over your competition. Prospects will buy from you when you truly understand them. By asking the appropriate questions, you will connect at a deeper level and understand what they want and why.
Going Beyond Needs Discovery - To learn more about this author, visit Will Turner's Website.
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Will Turner
(Visit Will's Website)
As President of Dancing Elephants
Achievement Group, Will feels he has the
best job in the galaxy. He loves working
with salespeople and entrepreneurs to
"unblock" themselves and "unlock"
their potential. Will is the first to
admit that he was a reluctant salesperson
for many years. He thought most
salespeople had to be pushy, and he just
wasn't comfortable in that role. He later
discovered that you don't have to act
like a typical salesperson to be a great
salesperson so he created a company to
teach others what he had learned.
Will transitioned a twenty year career in
sales and sales management into his
current position as President of Dancing
Elephants. In addition to facilitating and
presenting, Will is the author of Impact!,
the company's monthly e-newsletter on
sales performance. He is also the
co-creator of the Sales Magnetism program
and the co-author of Six Secrets of Sales
Magnets.
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