In the drive to qualify sales opportunities and move deals forward, it’s easy to find yourself asking important questions of prospects:
- “Who is the real decision-maker?”
- “What product or service are you interested in buying?”
- “When were you looking to purchase a solution?”
- “How much budget do you have approved?”
Now…these questions are rarely posed that directly. But getting the answers to them can often be a required part of a sales process. After all, those answers are important to understanding which deals have a better chance of moving forward–and which ones you shouldn’t waste your time on.
Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to become so focused on getting those tactical, qualifying questions answered that the more valuable prospect insights are missed. Prospect insights like:
- “Why are they motivated to move forward on a new product or solution?”
- “Why do they have a certain timeframe in mind?”
- “Why are they frustrated with solutions they have now?”
- “Why might they be fearful of buying my solution?”
It’s insights like these that help salespeople understand how a prospect perceives their business and the marketplace. More importantly, these insights can help build relationships, move deals forward, improve close-rates and ultimately increase margins.
Sometimes these insights are hidden in the answers to those tactical who/what/when/how questions. Sometimes they need to be asked more directly.
Either way, if you’re not looking for those insights…chances are, you won’t find them.
