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Going Beyond Needs Discovery

Written by: Will Turner

Article Overview: Buyers don't buy on needs, they buy on emotions. As a salesperson, we must dig deeper with our questioning and understanding of a prospect to get to what truly matters.

Going Beyond Needs Discovery

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.

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Re: My own page - [quote="OmnivoreInk":2xk5rdol]I also have Google as my home page, because I've got about 8 different Newsfeeds on it, from Science and Discovery to BBC news (which for some reason never talks about news in England except sports, and while I like sports - I don't care for soccer which is all they ever talk about!)[/quote:2xk5rdol] I use iGoogle with a few different news feeds on it as well, including EvanCarmichael.com feed and Sitepoint.
My own page - [quote="JWDesignCenter":kjuv6z19]Mine is google. I used to have my own page on it.. but i felt it was messing up my stats. This way if i need to search for something, i can right when my internet opens.[/quote:kjuv6z19] I also have Google as my home page, because I've got about 8 different Newsfeeds on it, from Science and Discovery to BBC news (which for some reason never talks about news in England except sports, and while I like sports - I don't care for soccer which is all they ever talk about!) But I take the science related headlines and report them on my own science blog..so I find the google news pages invaluable.
Re: Can someone explain Search engine optimization to me? - If you use a good keyword research tool like Keyword Discovery or WordTracker, you'll find a lot of solid profitable keyword phrases that don't make a lot of sense. You should also be able to uncover some phrases that make better sense and still have a decent profitability. By profitability, I mean the keyword phrases have a decent search volume but a low lever of competition. I always teach that you have to write for real people first and the search engines second. If you try to weave a strange keyword phrase into your article with a fixed keyword density, it will sound strange and that can affect your credibility and trust.
Re: Herbert Elwood Gilliland III: I Invented YouTube - Hi Herb, Thanks for sharing with us! While continuing to be impartial, I think it's wrong but definitely understandable why many onlookers will simply write these claims up as "baseless" and "delusional" without doing their due diligence. 1. I think the Web 2.0 space is a great platform to voice any concerns [u:1j6c9q4p]where the public feels like they're involved[/u:1j6c9q4p]. Many causes and charities, for example, have been able to connect with the public on a much deeper level than simply being informative. I mean it is a story, but why should others care? 2. I can't imagine much can be done without some solid legal and technical facts. Discovery! 3. Get as many facts as possible. Probably use some kind of unconventional tactics to leverage the public's awareness on this matter. [u:1j6c9q4p]Tech blogs, Facebook, Web 2.0 blogs, authority sites on social media, technology law blogs etc. [/u:1j6c9q4p] Good luck Herbert!
Frumpy or sleek? The wrong face drives away customers - I've got a Discovery News Feed on my Google Desktop, and every morning I usually click on one or two headlines. The first time I do this, I'm always brought to a "splash page" or "ad page" or whatever it's called, in which a frumpy woman (middle aged, bad hair cut - or just on a bad hair day, pinny over her dress, clutching a few papers and smiling) is juxtaposed over some ad about the dangers of high cholesterol and what to do about it. Now, I am a feminist, and I see no reason why middle aged women should have to primp and preen and watch their weight (any more than younger women should) and that these women can advertise anything just as well as anybody else...but the fact remains that I pay no attention to this ad because this "face" simply doesn't inspire confidence as someone who would know anything about cholesterol. It's "just" a housewife. Put the same woman - same expression and everything - in a white lab coat and I might pay more attention to her. Have this woman as she now is trying to sell chocolate cake or something like that, and I'd pay attention to her. But as it is, the image doesn't inspire confidence in the message.


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