Determine Your Clients’ Motivation

Ask the right questions to find out how ready your clients are—and close more deals.

You can’t sell gloves to the guy with no hands. I’m not poking fun at Nick Vujicic, he is one amazing man and honestly, in absolutely no need of gloves. 

Each one of us has run into that one client that is just unmotivated to buy or worse, not interested to begin with.  The problem is that many feel once a certain amount of time and energy is invested in a prospect, they must seal the deal. So much mental energy is wasted on the impossible dream for the sake of pleasing one’s ego. There are 7 billion people on this planet, some will buy, and some won’t, so what? Stop wasting time and move on! The key is determining the client’s motivation early in the process so you are not expending time and effort into a dead end.  Keep in mind how many other people you could be talking to instead of wasting time racking your brain on forcing the issue. 

Remember this; questions are the key to determining motivation in working with clients. Their answers are to not only guide the conversation but to save your time if a prospect may not be interested in buying at this time. Knowing that small, yet important piece of information can help you pivot and move on to the next client who is motivated to buy and in turn, you’ll close more deals.

At your initial meeting with a prospective client, in addition to uncovering their needs and desires, how would it feel to know how motivated they are to buy now? Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a few questions in your selling tool box to uncover their readiness? 

Depending on the rapport you have built with your client and the level of flow in your conversation, you could try using one or more of the below:

·        I really appreciate your taking the time to speak with me today. Before we start, I’d just like to understand what you’d like for us to accomplish today.

·        On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being ready to buy now, how ready are you to buy (start using, implementing) ___?

·        Why are you seriously considering purchasing (owning, using, installing) ____?

·        If you were going to acquire ____, when would you want to take delivery (ownership, service to begin)?

·        Who is your current provider and why are you considering other vendors/products at this time? (This is a good one as you can not only elicit if there is an upcoming RFP, but also the client’s unmet needs/wants/wounds that you can come in and alleviate).

·        What is currently keeping you from moving forward today? (I absolutely hate questions that may lead to a dead end, but sometimes you just need to know if it is time to cut and run or double down.)

Sometimes, the reason a client can’t come to a decision is that there may be a conflict at work, outside of work or something else. You need to determine the challenge that is preventing them from reaching a decision. If you can help them overcome that challenge great, but if the time and energy spent solving it may inhibit you from closing 10 more deals, you need to weigh these options.

Overall, the conversations you have with clients can make or break your ability to close more deals.

When you have an opportunity to speak with a client, engage them with the above questions from different angles so that in their response, they let you know if the exchange of time and energy will be worth your investment.

If you’d like to learn more simple sales tips that will increase your results, I invite you to take a look at The Selling Mindset which offers you tools that you can apply immediately to accelerate your sales growth.