How To Probe for Customer Information
B2B sales typically involve multiple decision-makers, scores of "influencers" and a complex buying process. To make the sale, you need a road map, and the only way to get that information is to extract it from your initial customer contact. Unfortunately, if you come right out and ask, it can sound like you're being nosy and, worst case, you can end up sounding like a police interrogator.
Step #1: Do your research. Never ask a customer a question that you can get answered somewhere else. Before your first customer meeting, dredge through news stories on the web, the company's SEC filings, and the company's Hoover's listing. Write down the basics of the customer's finances and the names of key individuals. Also record what you can learn about your initial contact's career.
Step #2: Refresh your memory. Immediately before the meeting, read over the results of your research to make sure you've got the basics straight. That last seems obvious, but I once had a manager who, at a meeting with a major customer, asked "Who was that guy?" after the customer CEO (who was dressed very casually) dropped in for a quick chat with his negotiating team.
Step #3: Ask creative questions. To keep the conversation from sounding like an interrogation, sprinkle it with questions that have built-in, positive assumptions. For example:
- "Your industry is in tough economic times, but your company seems to be doing better than everyone else. How do you guys do that so consistently?"
- "You've obviously developed a wealth of business contacts. What's your secret?"
- "How did you learn so much about the ins and outs of corporate politics?
Step #5: Relax and enjoy. The best way to get somebody to open up is to actually enjoy listening to them. People are fascinating. Careers are interesting. Companies operate in fascinating ways. Everyone has stories to tell. If you get yourself in the right mood, the "questioning" (i.e. "listening") part of your job can be the best part of your day.
BTW, the above is based upon a conversation with Mark Shonka and Dan Kosch, co-authors of "Beyond Selling Value (Dearborn Trade, 2002).
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