How to ask Problem Questions without asking about your customer's problems

As a salesperson have you ever asked a customer about their problems and you get the dreaded, " I don't have any problems!" Now you are stuck. You search for other ways of asking about their issues but by now the customer is irritated. Does the customer really not have any problems? You think to yourself, that customer is just being a jerk. Of course they have problems, everyone has problems he is just trying to be difficult. You tell yourself these things to make yourself feel better over your own failure to communicate effectively.

Let's face it nobody likes to admit they have problems and customers are smart people. When you don't take the time to do your homework and ask specific and well thought out questions your customer knows what you are trying to do. You are also wasting their time. Every question you ask must be specific and it must invoke the customer to tell about their experiences. The key to asking problem questions is for you to not point out their problems but instead have the customer explain their experiences. Through this method the problems will easily rise to the top. As a sales manager, I like to coach my people to know exactly what their customer's problems are and then have the customer verbalize these issues to you. As I have always said, "if you say it you own it. If the customer says it they own it and they can't take it back."

For example, in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry the current way of doing anything always comes with problems. If one product causes patients to get leg cramps and yours does not it isn't enough for you as a sales rep to make this claim. The probability that your customer will even care is low if you just spew out this information. If the doctor and patient are happy with the current results of the other product this might not matter. You also should not dictate to them why it should matter. News alert, if you do all the talking they probably aren't listening anyway. So how do find out if the customer cares about this side effect? It is all in how you ask the question and doing your homework.

First you want to make sure you have talked to the office staff and find out if this really is an issue or not. If you are selling widgets it is no different. You speak to everyone in the business to find out the competitor issues before you speak with the decision maker. Talk to everyone and ask them what is the most common side effect that patients complain about in regard to the other product? If it isn't leg cramps then that isn't going to be your focus. However, for this article let's assume it is. Knowing this ahead of time will help you formulate your question in the most effective manner and increase the probability that you will get your customer to answer in a way that will allow you to have a problem/solution discussion. You don't stop with just asking about the most common issue you then go deeper with the staff. You ask how that issue impacts the patient? You ask how it effects the staff? You ask what if you didn't have to deal with these negative consequences, how would that help you? Now when you go to talk to the doctor or decision maker you are armed with useful information from his own people.

You finally get the appointment. Now it is preparation time. If you just go in and wing it you might be successful but I am all about increasing the probability of success. Properly formulating how you ask the question and what exact words you will use is often the difference between success and failure. I advise writing out exactly what you are going to say and then repeat it over and over again until you can ask it without sounding canned. In this instance I am a big fan of the "What happens when/what do you do when....question." Asking someone "what happens when/what do you do when....questions" allows for a few things:

1. If the customer answers the question then they have just admitted they actually have this issue or problem. You just got them to admit a problem without asking them about their problems.
2. They can never take it back. They will tell you their own life experience and they will more than likely have a greater chance of remembering the conversation. They are also saying it so they own it.
3. You can now use their own words and life experiences to help them solve their issue. This is also an issue they might have never thought was a very big issue at all. During the close it becomes easier because you can say, "well YOU said this was an issue for you and you also said how it effects you. You also explained how much you would appreciate if it didn't happen. Now let's make sure it never happens again."

The call: "I understand all products come with side effects and some can be managed just fine. However, I was wondering, what do you do when a patient calls your office and complains of leg cramps after being given the competitor product? The key now is NOT to answer the question for the customer. Stay silent and let them talk. They will interpret "what do you do..." in their own terms. Let them talk! There is a slight chance the doctor could say that doesn't happen but remember you are also armed with what the staff told you. However, the higher probability is you will get them to talk about what they do. If they answer they have just admitted it happens. The next step would be to dig deeper into the conversation on the impact and effect of whatever his answer was to the question. The end result of what you are looking for is to obviously ask how might it help him if this didn't happen? Again you want the customer to answer. Once they answer you can then share what the staff has said as well. You can reiterate the issues they said they were having and how it effects them too. This helps build up the issue and demonstrate that you are there to help them solve a problem and not just sell your product. All of this may not happen in one call so taking copious notes is also key to success.

If the salesperson simply asked what are your problems with the competitor product chances are he would not get very far. Do "what happens when/what do you do when....questions" always work? No, nothing works 100% of the time but the probability you will have a much more collaborative conversation is highly increased when you use these types of questions to uncover customer problems. The probability that your customer will share their real life experiences are also enhanced and it will give you the sales person the ability to use the customer's own story back to them when closing on the solution.

Use "what happens when/what do you do when...questions" more often and you will watch your performance improve and you will have a lot more fun selling. Your customers will appreciate it too.

If you have success using this method please post it here on my Linkedin profile. I would love to hear about your success. If you have questions you can also reach me at [email protected]. I am happy to help any salesperson improve their performance.

Sell with Passion!

Greg Novarro

Award Winning Sales Leader