Questioning

Uncovering your prospects needs is essential to work out if your product is a fit.

Sensitive Areas

Some of your prospects may be reluctant to talk openly about certain issues like their budget for instance, but if you think creatively you should be able to gather the information you need without upsetting your prospect.

An honest and easy way of doing this is by up-front contracting during the qualification process as proposed by the Sandler System:

"Without a clear understanding of your budget I won’t be able to put together the right package for you, which is potentially a waste of time for both of us.

"If you like what we have to offer I can put together a proposal for you but to do this I’ll need to know what budget you could make available for XYZ - will this be OK?"

Past, Present or Future?

A historical view of the company - how it got to where it is today – can be helpful, but is often available by researching the company’s website or from other sources such as the trade press. Always check the facts with your prospect to make sure you don’t base your proposal on out of date data.

The main focus of your questioning should be around the present and the future. What’s happening today that you could help with, and where is the company heading.

"Are there potential clients out there that you’re not currently working with?"
"If you could put your sales team in front of the perfect prospect today, what job would they do, what type of company would they work for and why would they want to buy your products?"

"Do you have any new products on the horizon over the next 12 months?"
"I’ve just been reading about the launch of XYZ Competitor’s new widget in a couple of months time; how will that affect you?"

Types of Questions

There are 2 types of questions – open and closed – that are essential in defining your clients’ needs, gaining agreement, closing, handling objections…

Open Questions

PROS: Open questions are great for gathering information without limiting the possible responses. You should never assume anything or limit your client’s choices (except purposefully when you’re closing or confirming information you’ve been given).

CONS: Too many open questions can make your prospect wonder where this is all going, so signposting your route can help things run more smoothly. Let your prospect know why you’re keen to talk about this issue – “so I can just give you the most relevant information, could you describe your target market for me?” [yep, we know this is a closed question but you get the point!]

Open questions normally start with what, why, or how such as:

What sets you apart from the competition?
Why do your customers buy your products?
How do you support your direct sales team?

You can also use open questions to drill down deeper…

That sounds interesting, can you tell me more about that please?
Can you give me a bit more detail on your new products?
So the new product ships in May, how do you plan to promote it?

Closed Questions

PROS: Fantastic for clarifying and refining information and when asking for a decision.

CONS: Closed questions are very direct, be careful that you manage your tone and tempo so as not to put pressure on your prospect or sound abrupt or argumentative.

Can we book this advert?  CLOSED
Would you like a full page or just a half page?  CLOSED ALTERNATIVE

Ideas for probing questions

Here’s some starter questions around the various issues you need to get an understanding of to get out a strong pitch. It’s not comprehensive, if something works for you why not drop us a line at editors@mediasalesjobs.co.uk and tell us…?

Products & Market

What’s the average order value for your product/service?
What new products are in the pipeline?
What percentage of your business comes from ... ?
How do you sell your services to clients?
What type of people buy your services? Where do they work? What do they do?
Who are your biggest competitors? Why do your clients choose you over the competition?
How do you see the market changing over the next year?

Business

How long have you operated in this sector?
Do you employ a lot of people?
What’s next for XYZ Company and what are your priorities in getting there?
Are there seasonal variations in demand? When’s your busiest time of year? Why is this?
What else do you offer?

Marketing & Decision Making

Who decides where your company advertises?
How often do you review your budget/marketing strategy? Who is involved in that?
What proportion of your budget goes on marketing communications to XYZ prospects?
What types of marketing communications work best for your business?
If I could come up with the perfect media to reach your buyers, what would it look like?
When you spend marketing pounds, what are the main things you look to get in return?
How do you usually promote your company?
Do you have keep any contingency budget for ad-hoc projects?
When do your budgets run?
When does your planning cycle start and end?