How Uncovering Prospect Problems | Questioning Discoveries Selling Skills | Consultative Selling Ski

In order to sell services, a professional must have a command of all the potential problems of a prospect. Businesses hire professionals to help solve problems. Many of those problems are needs, but some are not.

Identifying Problems People Will Pay to Solve

Discovering problems can occur in many ways during the discovery and differentiation phase of selling. There are many ways to discover problems:

• Existing clients may have a series of problems similar to those of your prospects.

• Your prospect may belong to a trade association to help solve certain problems.

• Your prospect’s problems may be discussed on the Internet.

• Your prospect may mention her problems.

• You might discover problems through a business analysis.

Before meeting with a prospect, you will find it quite helpful to review your files on similar clients or talk to your clients, as- sociates, or partners who work on similar businesses. Your job at this point is to list as many potential problems as you possibly can.

Trade associations are excellent sources for discovering the problems associated with companies in that industry. Executives in trade associations are almost always aware of regulatory, tax, and competitive problems. You might also find industry performance statistics for an association of businesses that would apply to your prospects.

Some of the consulting firm uses an established process to identify client problems. It is a sophisticated benchmarking tool developed by the big consulting company called the advanced middle market business intelligence tool.

Conclusion

When you have created a list of all the possible problems a prospect might have, then formulate questions about the problems. Design questions that will demonstrate your knowledge of the company and its industry. This is a much more effective way of showing your knowledge than simply talking. Unless you address the problems with the prospect, in a non-judgmental manner, your meetings will only be a low-level commercial visit.