B2B sales is all about solutions, and solutions are all about customer needs. Unfortunately, figuring out those needs must take place early in the sales cycle, when you have the least rapport and when the customer is naturally wary. The time-honored technique to gather this information, and move the sale quickly forward, is with a “querying agenda.” Here’s how it’s done:
- Craft a set of questions that that focus on the prospect’s needs. Make them open-ended and non-directive. For example, “how are you currently handling excess inventory?” rather than “do you need inventory management software?”
- Edit them down to five or seven questions, going from the general to the specific. Why five or seven (and not six)? The human brain automatically groups even-numbered lists into pairs; five and seven are big enough to make the meeting look substantive, but not so many that they daunt.
- At the top of the page, spell out the prospect’s full name and title, with the date and time. This encourages the (correct) impression that the meeting is important both to you and to the customer.
- Space the questions about an inch apart on the page. This leaves space for you and the prospect to take notes during the meeting. It also fills out the page, making the agenda (and therefore the meeting) seem more important.
- Print copies of the finished agenda on your company letterhead. This makes it look like an official communication from your company to the prospect, and makes you seem like a consultant or advisor, rather than a sales rep.
- When you meet with the prospect, acknowledge the prospect’s time constraints. Thank the prospect for their time, and acknowledge that you realize how busy they are. This is important even if the prospect asked for the meeting, because chances are that they’ll be busy and stressed when the meeting time actually arrives.
- Explain that you’re not there to sell them anything. State that you’re only there to ask some questions to see if you can help them achieve their goals. By the way, that statement better be true, because if you’re planning to sell even if the prospect doesn’t really need your product, you’re a con-man, not a sales pro.
- Give the prospect a copy of your agenda. Explain that you’ve prepared the agenda because you know the prospect is busy. In most cases, the prospect will breath a sigh of relief, because they’ll no longer be afraid that they’re about to be subjected to a sales pitch.
- Use the questions to reveal requirements. Keep returning to the agenda in order to reinforce the fact that the meeting is moving forward and that you are respecting the prospect’s time, relieving any anxiety that the prospect might have about the meeting going on for too long.
- Determine whether the prospect is a potential customer. This is the most important part of the process. If your questions are honest (and not leading), they must be capable of revealing that the prospect is NOT a customer. If not, inform the customer that your firm is not a good match and end the meeting.
- If the prospect is indeed a potential customer, mentally craft a draft solution. Use what you’ve learned during the questioning to position your solution in a way that meets the prospect’s needs.
- Near the close of the meeting, describe your draft solution and ask for the next step. This will typically be another meeting, perhaps with more attendees, to discuss a more detailed description of the solution that you’ve proposed.
I learned the above technique during a one-on-one conversation with sales uber-guru Brian Tracy. I use an variation of this technique frequently when selling projects and it always generates a productive discussion. It’s one of those basic but highly effective techniques that every sales pro should know.
