Chapter 11: Determining customer needs with a consultative questioning strategy

Question 1

1. Outline the benefits of the consultative sales process.

Answer 1

• Consultative selling is a value adding process, involves meeting customer needs by asking strategic questions, listening to customers, understanding and caring about their problems, selecting the appropriate solution, creating the sales presentation, and following through after the sale. Consultative selling is a very customer-centric form of selling that creates value for the customer and in the process creates value for the firm.
• Benefits of consultative sales process:
  1. Increased customer satisfaction.
  2. More sales closed.
  3. Fewer order cancelations and fewer returns.
  4. Increased business and referrals.

Question 2

2. Describe 4 parts of the needs-satisfaction model.

Answer 2

1. Need discovery: firms’s activities revolve around the needs of the customer, need discovery forms the essence of the salespeople being able to create value, meet the needs of the customers, and execute the firm’s commitment to the marketing concept. Need discovery in the information economy is a critically important part of the sales process. The pace, scope, depth and time allocated to inquiry depend on a variety of factors including sophistication of the product, price, customer’s knowledge, application of product, time available for dialogue.
2. Selection of solution: The sales person must choose the product or service that will provide maximum satisfaction. While doing so, the salesperson must be aware of all product options (including the competition).
3. Need satisfaction through informing, persuading, or reminding: consists of creating a needs satisfaction sales presentation and communicating to the customer both verbally and nonverbally the satisfaction that the product or service can provide. The salesperson places less emphasis on the use of questions and begins making value adding statements. These statements are organized into a presentation that informs, persuades, or reminds the customer of the most suitable product or service.
4. Servicing the sale: Activities which occur after closing the sale, ensure maximum customer satisfaction and set the stage for a long-term relationship. Service activities include expansion selling, making credit arrangements, following through on assurances and promises, dealing effectively with complaints.

Question 3

3. Discuss the use of questions to discover the customer needs.

Answer 3

Need discovery (need analysis or need assessment or qualifying the customer): The salesperson establishes 2 way communication by asking appropriate questions and listening carefully to customer’s responses.
Need discovery-Asking questions: Asking high-value-added questions that enlighten your prospect both about their needs and possible solutions results in an immediate sale.
*Spin Selling Model: Mastering use of questions can increase success in sales. Questions help clarify dimensions of the problem, help customer evaluate solutions, help the customer evaluate the outcome. The investigative or need discovery stage of sales process has the most impact on buyer’s decision to purchase.
*Personal Selling Skills Model:
1. Use effective questions to gather information and build a clear, complete, mutual understanding of customer’s needs.
2. Guide direction of the sales call by striking an appropriate balance between open and closed question.
3. Use their questioning strategy to facilitate open exchange of information.
In every selling situation you want the prospect to be thinking, sharing thoughts, and asking questions. Appropriate questions reduce tension and build trust in a situation because the communicate interest in the other person’s welfare. Until the person begins to talk freely, the salesperson will have difficulty diagnosing and solving the customer’s problem.
*4 Part Consultative Questioning Strategy.
1. Survey Questions: Questions used to help the salesperson collect information about the buyer’s existing situation and problem.
->General Survey Questions: Questions used early in the sales presentation to help the salesperson discover facts about the buyer’s existing situation.
->Specific Survey Questions: Questions designed to give prospects a chance to describe in more detail a problem, issue, or dissatisfaction from their point of view.
->Open Questions: Questions that require the prospect to respond with more than just a yes or no.
->Closed Questions: Questions that can be answered yes or no with a brief response.
2. Probing Questions (Reveal customer’s pain): Questions that help the salesperson uncover and clarify the prospect’s buying problem and the circumstances surrounding the problem. A series of probing questions stimulates the prospect to discover things not considered before.
3. Confirmation Questions (Reveal mutual understanding): Questions used throughout the sales process to verify the accuracy and assure a mutual understanding of information exchanged by the salesperson and the buyer. They are used to gain commitment a critically important part of achieving succession larger complex sales.
->Buying conditions: Qualifications that must be available or fulfilled before the sales can be closed.
->Summary confirmation questions: Questions used to clarify and confirm buying conditions. Also used to effectively clarify, confirm, and gain commitment to several product benefits after they have been presented, generally one at a time. Commitment to the value of the benefits usually results in transitioning the presentation to the closing and servicing of the sale.
4. Need Satisfaction Questions: Questions designed to move the sales process toward commitment and action by helping to clarify the problem in the prospect’s mind and by building a desire for your solution. Need satisfaction questions help the prospect see how your product or service provides a solution to the problem you have uncovered.

Question 4

4. Describe the importance of active listening and the use of confirmation questions.

Answer 4

Active listening: The process of feeding back to the prospect what you as listener think the person meant, in therms of both content and feelings. It involves taking into consideration and exhibition both verbal and nonverbal messages. Developing active listening skills involves 3 practices:
1. Focus your full attention.
2. Paraphrase the customer’s meaning.
3. Take notes.
Need discovery-Establishing buying motives: The goal of questioning, listening, and acknowledging is to uncover prospect needs and establishing buying motives. Efforts to discover prospect needs can be more effective if the focus questioning on determining the prospect’s primary reasons for buying. When a customer has a definite need, it is usually supported by specific buying motives.

Question 5

5. Select solutions that match customer needs.

Answer 5

• Selecting Solutions-Match specific benefits with buying motives.
• Selecting Solutions-Product configuration.
• Selecting Solutions-Make appropriate recommendations.
• Need discovery and the transactional buyer.
• Involving the prospect in the need discovery.
• Transitioning to the presentation.