How to ask good questions when assessing customer needs?

Moving past building rapport and trust, we now shift towards understanding our prospects, less on a personal level, but more for understanding if they are a fit for our offerings and if so, how they might benefit from them.

ASSESSMENT comes in 2 forms: 

1. Research

Don’t be lazy; research your prospects before the interaction. Understand as much as you can about them in relation to your offerings. The more you know about them, the less you have to ask in conversation. To qualify them: Use the BANT framework.

Here are sample considerations that will help enhance your understanding of how to present to them:

• Who are their competitors? 

• What should success look like for them? 

• Are they on par with their peers? 

• What alternative solutions are they currently utilizing or looking into? 

• What is the trend in their market or industry? 

• What might they be motivated by?”

2. Relevant Questions

These are questions you need them to answer to provide insights into how they might use your solution. Their responses will reveal opportunities for you to emphasize specific features, upsell, or cross-sell. To accomplish this effectively, we must proactively plan for and deliberately ask the right questions, rather than expecting prospects to already know what they want or need.

“If I had asked people what they wanted,  they would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford,Ford Motor Company

Prospects can articulate their problems, but they often lack a clear vision of the ideal solution. It’s our responsibility to discern what suits them best based on their unique situation.

For instance, if you are selling cell phones and you’re trying to highlight the motion photo feature:

Normal Questions:

•  How do you currently use your phone to take pictures?

• What do you like to photograph?

• How do you capture that perfect moment during a sports match?

Better Questions:

• Do you have kids?

• Do you play sports?

The first group consists of questions directly related to the camera’s features. Although useful, they can be limiting. The second group is better because it helps you uncover benefits and values that multiple other features could speak to.

If they say they have kids, you could now say:

“You mentioned having kids; let me show you a really cool feature in this phone” (Paraphrases and acknowledges their point to demonstrate you’re genuinely paying attention to their needs.)

“I’m frequently tasked with photographing my nephew and his family at gatherings. As you know, it’s always a challenge to perfectly capture those magical moments when they’re squirming, blinking, or distracted by every little thing.” (Demonstrates relatability through common ground, defines the problem, and highlights a Value that the prospect cares about – capturing those magical family moments.)

“The camera on this phone features a special motion photo setting that operates by recording a short clip before you press the shutter button” (Feature)

“It enables you to review and select the best image without the concern of potentially missing a moment or if someone blinked or looked away at the wrong time.” (Benefit)

“Additionally, it’s waterproof, so you won’t have to worry about washing your device after your little ones get their dirty hands on it. I can also walk you through setting up parental controls to childproof your device.” (Elaborating on other relevant features now that you have a better understanding of your prospect’s lifestyle.)

So how do we ask good questions?

Use open-ended questions

These are questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes, no, or a single word. They encourage the prospect to share more, helping you better understand their needs. Open-ended questions minimize back-and-forth dialogue and foster a more natural conversation by making it feel less like an interrogation.

“Do you…” questions are closed-ended. Turn them into open-ended questions by adding the 5Ws and H to the start of it.

“Who do you…”

“What do you…”

“Where do you…”

“When do you…”

“Why do you…”

“How do you…”

Quantify Value if possible

Work with your prospects to define success Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and benchmark metrics before vs. after. This enables you to easily highlight progress and helps them more clearly realize the value and impact of your solution once they’ve started using it. It improves retention and also makes it a lot easier for you to turn them into case studies or testimonials should they permit.

“What would solving X do for you?”

“How is this problem currently impacting your team?”

“How do you currently measure success?”

Uncover their interest, motivations, and desires

What is their current reality?

What challenges, obstacles, and implications are holding them back?

How does it match up to their vision of the desired future?

How will your solution bridge aid in bridging that gap?

For B2B scenarios, this payoff or reward can manifest not only as a benefit to the business but also personally, in the form of professional accolades or a promotion.

Dig deep with 5 Whys

Sometimes, prospects may become fixated on the superficial symptoms of their problem and overlook the underlying root cause. If your solution effectively addresses this root cause, consider highlighting it early in the conversation. This helps prospects gain a clearer understanding of the relevance of your solution. 

Drawing inspiration from lean manufacturing, the 5 Whys technique, introduced by Taiichi Ohno at Toyota Motor Corporation, is an excellent starting point. It encourages us to think critically and challenge both our assumptions and those of our prospects by digging deeper. For example, 

The machine stopped working.

Why? There was an overload that blew out the fuse.

Why? The bearing was not sufficiently lubricated.

Why? The lubrication pump was faulty.

Why? A strainer wasn’t reattached after servicing it and some scrap metal got in.

In troubleshooting, it’s common to overlook the root cause and instead address only the symptoms, mistakenly thinking the issue is resolved. Without tackling the root causes, the problem is likely to resurface. The ‘Why’ questioning need not always be 5 times; it could be more, or less. Ultimately, it’s about challenging yourself to explore further

Why isn’t the only vocabulary at your disposal; use all the 5Ws and H mentioned earlier to dig deep. Here’s what it might look like in a sales interaction:

SDR: You’re experiencing fulfillment issues with your current manufacturer. How does that translate to your business?

Prospect: The slower turnaround means our customers have to wait much longer before they can receive the products they ordered.

SDR: And how do you believe that impacts your bottom line?

Prospect: We end up wasting a significant amount of time and money processing returns or answering inquiries about the status of their orders. It’s distracting our team from leaning harder into sales or marketing efforts and eating into our profit margins.

SDR: How much would you estimate you spent on processing refunds alone last year?

Prospect: Probably a little more than $10,000 (Quantify Value), and that doesn’t even account for all the headaches and time wasted.

What problem does this problem solve?

5 Whys helps us uncover the root cause; however, in certain cases, we might want to broaden both our and our prospect’s considerations beyond the current manifestation of solutions. For instance, if your wheelbarrow breaks down:

If we only focus on fixing the wheelbarrow, our solutions might be limited to improvements in wheel design, handle grip, or material durability. While these changes can make the wheelbarrow more efficient, they are within the confines of the existing paradigm of material transportation.

By asking, “What problem does this problem solve?” we shift our prospects from seeking incremental improvements to exploring transformative solutions.

Underlying Issue Identification: What fundamental problem does the wheelbarrow address? It’s about the manual transport of materials.

Explore Alternatives: If we dig deeper into the need for manual material transport, we might realize that the wheelbarrow, while effective, has its limitations.

Think Beyond the Wheelbarrow: What if we reimagine material transport entirely? Could there be alternative solutions that don’t involve pushing a wheelbarrow? Perhaps a system of conveyors, drones, or automated carts.

Innovative Solutions: By questioning the necessity of the wheelbarrow itself, we open the door to more innovative solutions. For example, a modular, self-driving cart system that can carry heavy loads efficiently, or a drone-based delivery system for materials in hard-to-reach places.

This approach aids us in challenging our prospects to reconsider the nature of the problem and explore innovative alternatives beyond the existing framework. It encourages breaking free from conventional thinking and considering unconventional, yet potentially more effective approaches.