Fear Factor

In today’s market too many salespeople succeed because they represent a good reputable company with quality products or services. They are tenured in their territory, are reliable, possess a good personality, have good product knowledge, are persistent and assertive and they are intelligent. Not enough succeed because they have solid selling skills, strategies and tactics.

The missing equation for most is their ability to create relationships built on trust, confidence and understanding. Most salespeople overplay the likeability card to build relationships. Although it is imperative that someone has a strong connection to you, what is more important is that they respect you. To attract respect and have people trust you, you must first demonstrate to them your expertise in understanding their problems and their circumstances. People buy from people they like. But what is so much more important is, they buy from salespeople they believe have the expertise, the patience and the understanding to help them self-discover their problems independent of the salesperson’s own selling agenda. Therefore you have to be an objective, partial, third party observer at the selling event. What that means is you ask questions that are not loaded or are posed in a manner to solely advance your selling position. You are not afraid to ask questions that will elicit answers that could derail your offering and prematurely end your conversation.

As you take on the non-selling posture you are now asking questions more from a change agent perspective. You are more concerned in understanding, from the prospect’s perspective, if the timing and climate is right for change. You also help them do their own cost/benefit analysis as to whether they should change or not. This is what it is like to be a trusted advisor and counselor. Salespeople are paid for their questions, not their answers. The salesperson who best isolates and identifies the client’s problems will consistently outsell the salesperson with the best solution.

Building relationships on trust, confidence and understanding is the most sustainable competitive advantage you have going for you. However, few salespeople have the strategy and tactics to properly execute this plan. They are stuck in archaic thinking that has them performing their position as a goodwill ambassador, a professional visitor and as an overly pleasing “Johnny on the spot” salesperson.

How does one make this transition from a likeable nice guy and friendly salesperson to a professional caring business strategist? What you need is a deep reservoir of thought-provoking and inquisitive questions to really get to the core of your prospect’s problems, goals and priorities. But most importantly, you need curiosity. If you are not genuinely curious, you will look at the pain discovery process as cumbersome and intrusive. Coupled with curiosity, you need to be humble, patient, evenhanded and non-opportunistic so you don’t appear to be so self-serving.

The following are examples of universal pain locator questions that you can ask a prospect regarding any problem that they may have so you can ascertain the consequences, the importance, the actionability, the commitment to change and their own personal stake in changing. With these questions you can start to differentiate what are problems they can live with and what are problems they have a low tolerance for.

As you dig deeper you will start to see that a lot of problems are just symptoms of bigger problems, or a lot of problems that they can live with, and aren’t pressing and urgent. Keep in mind that the quality, the timing and the delivery of your questions will be more important than the quantity of your questions. Here are some examples:

• “Tell me more about the problem.”
• “How long has it been a problem?”
• “Who else knows about the problem?”
• “How long have you been thinking about the problem?”
• “How is it impacting the organization?”
• “How is it impacting you personally?”
• “What is your stake or vested interest in fixing the problem?”
• “How much is the problem costing you in time, resources, personnel, dollars and energy?”
• “In a perfect world how would you propose to fix this problem?”
• “How much longer can you afford to have the problem go unresolved?”
• “In relation to the problem or situation, how are you evaluated?”
• “What hurdle or risks do you see in moving forward to fix this problem?”
• “When you went to your existing supplier and shared your frustrations about your problem, what reassurance did they give you that it wouldn’t be repeated?”
• “What are some of the original causes of the problem?”
• “When you say this is a serious problem, what standard are you using to measure it against?”
• “Why do you think the problem has been going on for so long?”
• “When do you need the problem fixed by?”
• “What other initiatives are happening at your company that could supersede addressing this problem?”
• “Is the timing right for you to champion this change?”
• “What is your back-up strategy for now?”
• “What could you have done to avoid this problem?”
• “What kind of return or payoff will you be looking for if you get a successful resolution of this problem?”
• “From your perspective, what is the next step for you?”
• “With or without us, have you made the decision that you must fix this problem?”

Since for all intents and purposes, prospects could care less about you and your company, the pain locator questions are a great way to put all the emphasis and focus on the client. These questions are an excellent tool to use to build rapport, create a long- term relationship that is built on trust and confidence, build a business case instead of just a product justification, and save time, energy and resources by quickly identifying your prospect’s problems, consequences, commitments, priorities and motivation to change.