What are the best questions to ask customers? With such a highly saturated market, salespeople know that closing a deal isn’t as simple as offering a good price or limited-time deal. Successful sales techniques need to illustrate how a product caters directly to a customer’s needs while providing measurable, long-term results. This is why value-based selling has become the best strategy to win customers and close deals.
Value-based selling takes into consideration each customer’s unique needs and demonstrates how a product offers custom solutions. The goal is to illustrate the real value that your product offers, and how you’re uniquely positioned to provide certain benefits. This selling strategy hinges on asking productive and informative questions during your initial meeting to better understand each customer’s objectives and challenges.
Here’s our guide on how to ask the best questions to ask customers when you’re looking to close the deal.
Organizing Your Questions to Ask Customers
First things first, you need to ensure your sales pitch engages your prospect while informing them abut key elements of your product. Try to resist the temptation to provide too many details and specifications in the first meeting, and instead focus your attention on learning more about your customer and their needs.
Start with Open-Ended Questions
Give your prospect space to talk about their business model, goals, and what kind of solutions they’d like to implement. The more time you spend getting to know what makes your prospect tick, the easier it will be to tailor your sales pitch to address their needs.
- What are your short-term and long-term goals?
Allow your customer to expand on their business model and future goals. Ask where they would like to be in 5 or 10 years. This helps you prioritize certain business elements as you discuss your product. How will your product help the prospect achieve their goals? Have you helped other businesses achieve similar objectives? - What does your ideal solution look like?
This question is a straightforward way to assess how well your product fits into a prospect’s tool kit. Understand what they are looking for and be honest about how your product aligns with their priorities.
Expand on Challenges
If a prospect continually focuses on a certain theme or problem, ask further questions to gain more insight into the nature of the problem and what the prospect has done to implement a solution. This is where you can dig deeper into the unique challenges each prospect faces and elaborate how your product offers specific solutions.
- What challenges have you experienced?
Ask your prospect about past challenges they’ve experienced and what they did to overcome those obstacles. This will help you gain insight into the kind of problem-solving strategies that work well for this prospect’s business model. - What is your desired outcome?
A desired outcome is similar to a goal, but is more specifically targeted towards your product. While a goal should elaborate on a business-wide ambition, a desired outcome focuses on the solutions that your business partnership will yield.
Make a Follow-Up Plan
Don’t be afraid to ask practical questions about budget and timeline. Being clear with a prospect about expectations for the future sets the tone for a communicative and transparent relationship. Make it clear that you’re willing to work within your prospect’s timeline.
- What does your decision process entail?
Never make a prospect feel rushed or pressured to make a decision. It’s okay to ask about the decision process so you can work within their timeline to accommodate their rhythm. - What’s your budget?
It’s okay to ask about budget! This ensures that you and your prospect are on the same page as you move forward with negotiations. - Do we need to includes others in this conversation?
It’s always the best practice to ensure that all decision-makers are in the loop when it comes to closing a deal. Ask if you need to speak to any other decision-makers within your prospect’s company before you further any negotiations.
Closing the Deal with Acquirent
At Acquirent we are inspired to help businesses of all sizes achieve success and form a sustainable sales strategy. Our team of sales professionals are passionate about helping you develop a sales plan that caters to your customers and showcases your expertise. From marketing strategies, to sales training, to recruitment support, Acquirent has your back at every step of the sales cycle.
Contact us today to get your free quote.