Peady’s Selling Engagement sponsored by IRD Prospector

Whatever sales process you use, one of the main activities is a “discovery” or “uncovery” of needs meeting (some call it the diagnostic meeting).

In a perfect world prospective clients would provide perfect answers so salespeople could easily determine how (or if) they could assist with their business challenges or opportunities.
 
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world.
 
What really happens?

These meetings often don’t always go as smoothly as expected. Prospects can’t or won’t provide the answers required or simply aren’t prepared to open up.
 
So what are the mistakes and how do you avoid them? Here’s just four of the mistakes salespeople make.
 
1. Not enough research.

Limiting your research will put you in a weak position. Lacking crucial background information will make guiding the conversation difficult so thorough pre-call research allows you to gather information on their customers, competitors and business generally.

2. Asking too many closed questions.

Diagnostic and needs uncovery meetings are meant to learn more about the prospective client, but asking closed questions you’ll limit the amount of information you can gather.

Ask open-ended questions that start with who, when, why, how, where. Open questions allow them to expand and describe their pain points and provide additional background on their business.

3. Interrogating the prospect.

There’s a big difference between a conversation that includes needs based questions and an interrogation!

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes – would you open up and let a stranger know about your business if it seemed like you were being interrogated?

A great diagnostic should be a free flowing conversation that allows both parties to get to know each other.

4. Not leaving something behind.

Why I mean by this is you need to “value-add” the meeting by giving the potential customer or client a leave behind. 

Things like:

• An article on their industry or the SME sector
• A case study relevant to their situation
• Testimonials or references from current clients
• A sample script or demo commercial (or award winning ads for their industry sector)

 
Great needs uncovery meetings usually result in great relationships and the opportunity to help your clients build strong, results effective campaigns. Avoid these 4 mistake and you’ll be well placed for selling success.
 

About the author 

Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.

He can be contacted at [email protected]