You can use it in so many places in your sales cycle

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What I soon realized was that this universal refrain was one of the most powerful questions in sales for three reasons:

It puts the focus squarely on the customer and their problem (not your solution)
It encourages and exposes alignment between customer stakeholders



To expand on item 3, consider these three scenarios where the use of this simple question can be so powerful:

1. The Qualification:
During the qualification process, a good sales rep nigeria telegram data assesses the fit between the customer’s needs and their solution. While the rep understands that most sales cycles take time and involve a series of steps, this first phase is critical to understanding how to position the value of their solution and set the tone for the engagement—or even pull out of the deal if they don’t feel there’s a fit (video tip: “This isn’t for everyone:).



To help sales reps along, we craft lists of discovery and qualification questions—tools designed to both uncover our customer’s strategic and operational pains and foreshadow our ability to solve them.


Unfortunately, these questions can often be too leading and solution-centric (e.g. “Would it beneficial to reduce complaints from your employees when it comes to their pay not being calculated properly?” “Do the customers whose networks you manage to get frustrated when they discover issues before you do?”). When customers feel like they’re being led into a logic trap or that their freedom to say “no” has been restricted, they withdraw (a psychological principle known as reactance). When that happens, customers may still answer our questions, but their insights will often lack depth, insight, and potentially be counterfeit.


As a result, we may not come away with the valuable business context we were after.

Looking at the qualification process through the lens of “What problem are they looking to solve?” before, during, and after the conversation changes that.