Finding the Need is Only Part of the Sale
Copyright 2005 Thomas Baskind
Many of us in sales are taught to believe that the most
important job of the salesperson is to “find the need” of
our prospects. If we can uncover “needs” then our job is
easy; we just need to show our prospect how our product or
service fills that need. Right?
Well, the problem with that approach is that it only
addresses part of the pie. Think about it. What do you
do when YOU need something? Let’s say you need to buy a
new computer; do you sit around and wait, hoping that a
computer salesperson is going to call you? NO, of course
not; you go out and you fulfill your need.
So, as a salesperson, if people really NEED your product or
service they will pick up the phone and call you to place
an order. If that’s the case, why aren’t you selling
more??? Oh, you say, they’re buying from your competitor.
Or, you might tell me, “Well, they just don’t KNOW that
they need my product or service; my job is to “find the
need” and to “build their pain.”
Let me give you another way to think about this…suppose,
just suppose for a moment, that instead of just focusing on
“needs” we broaden our thinking: as a salesperson you want
to find out about what people DO. Your job is to find out
and understand what they’re doing now, how they’re doing
it, who they’re doing it with, when they’re doing, why
they’re doing it that way, and then to help them do it
better. Makes sense, right?
When you adopt the “DO” philosophy over the “NEEDS”
philosophy, your thinking and the questioning will become
much broader. By asking “do” based questions you get
better information from your prospects, which in turn allow
you to make a proposal that will make much more sense to
the prospect. And the only reason people buy something is
because it makes sense to them.
By asking “do” based question you are creating a
conversation which engages your prospect. When performed
at its best, selling is an extended conversation; it is not
an interrogation by the salesperson, and neither is it a
“product dump” where you aim to tell your prospect anything
and everything you can about your services.
What are some examples of “do” based questions? Well, here
are a few:
• “What are you currently doing about _______?”
• “I’m just curious, what made you decide to do it that
way?”
• “How did you decide to do that?”
• “What are you hoping to accomplish in the next quarter,
year, three years…?
• “Tell me exactly what you do here?” Or, “tell me what
your key areas of responsibility are?”
• How was this decision made in the past?
• Will the decision process be the same this time around?
Take some time to make a list of questions that you can ask
that are relevant to your business. Some of the questions
may not seem to have a logical or direct tie to your
product or service; that’s OK. In fact, that’s good! By
focusing on what your prospects do and how they do it, you
are opening up the whole dynamic of your sales call into a
true conversation; one that will help you better understand
the goals, objectives, and needs of your prospect. By
broadening your conversation in this way you are then able
to make the proposal or recommendation that will make sense
to your prospect.
And, in the end, the only reason people buy something is
because it makes sense!
Mark Dembo and Thomas J. Baskind are Managing Partners in
DEI/Lexien of Greater New York, a sales performance
improvement and management consulting company. They invite
you to visit their website,
http://www.lexien.com/ , and
welcome your comments and inquiries.
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