Getting Decisions: A Perspective About Qualifying & Asking Good Questions
Many buying decisions are delayed due to prospect procrastination in one of two primary areas:
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Expertise: They are unfamiliar with your solution or are not an expert like you are—so they procrastinate. They have no sense of urgency. They feel they could make a mistake or lose if they buy the wrong thing.
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Money: Decisions that involve a significant financial investment naturally increase the prospects’ tendency to procrastinate.
The combination of an unfamiliar solution and an expensive product creates the perfect storm for prospect paralysis.
The Hard Truth: If procrastination is based in confusion or fear of making an expensive mistake, it is totally the salesperson’s fault if a sale is lost to procrastination!
Professional Selling recognizes that you must get the prospect to make a decision. You must take action so the prospect does not procrastinate. Why? Because the longer a sales cycle takes, the less the prospect retains, and the lower your chances of closing the deal.
Below is a cheat sheet of questions you can use to prompt action and get decisions.
Pre-Qualifying Questions
Use these early in the conversation to gauge urgency and establish next steps:
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How important is this to you, personally?
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What would you suggest we do to move this forward?
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What do you gain by moving forward?
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From a timing perspective, what makes this a particularly attractive (or unattractive) time to address this?
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What could you do as a first step to moving forward and getting a decision?
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Suppose you had all the information you need. What would happen next?
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How will you know who has the best solution?
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What actions could you take right after our meeting to get this approved?
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What is the challenging part for you of getting this approved? (Let’s talk about how to handle this. What problems/issues do you feel you might encounter?)
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What will it take to make this happen?
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What happens between now and our next meeting?
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Are you comfortable taking this to the boss with the recommendation to go forward?
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If the proposal contains all of these items, will you approve it and go with our plan?
Qualifying Questions
Use these to dig into budget, authority, and true commitment:
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How would you categorize your willingness to move forward on a 1-10 scale?
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What’s missing to get you to a “10,” or what would you need to see to get you there?
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The last time you did business with someone like me, how did you know you were making the right decision?
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How committed are you to solving the problem? (The right answer: Very committed.)
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Do you have any concerns about working with me? How about my company?
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What hurdles or risks do you see in moving forward?
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Have you decided that our approach is the best one to address your issue?
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How were you planning to fund this investment?
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What are you authorized to spend?
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Have I earned the right to ask you what your real budget, funding, or target price is?
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How do you see us helping you, and why us as opposed to someone else?
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If you think our price is high, wait until you see what it costs you when you go with a competitor’s cheaper version.
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Let’s assume price wasn’t an issue for you. What else is holding you back?
