Understand Your Prospect’s Wants, Issues, and Needs

Find out more about how understanding your prospect wins the sale

By:  Dennis R. Kyle, CEO, Sales Trainer

       Positive Results, your sales resource company

 

In the last article from the New Business Development series, we looked at the Steps to Generating Interest with Prospects Immediately while prospecting. This fourth article builds upon what we discussed and learned in the last article as it relates to speaking with the decision maker.

Identify Prospect’s Needs

When speaking with the decision maker, it is critical for you to completely identify their various Wants, Issues, and Needs so you can determine the impact those challenges have on their business and offer a viable solution; this discussion is referred to the WIN Analysis.

As we were introducing the idea of the Positive Results WIN Analysis during an iSales Processfor New Business Development seminar, a participant made the following comment:

“I don’t have a problem finding out what my prospect’s needs are. They always seem to know exactly what they’re looking for by the time I start talking with them.”

While it may sound ideal to speak with prospects who know exactly what they want, don’t be lured in by this “low hanging fruit.” Make sure that you are driving the conversation to truly discover your prospect’s Wants, Issues, and Needs.

The Dangers of Low-Hanging Fruit

I’m sure many of you have heard certain types of sales referred to as “low hanging fruit.” For those of you who haven’t, imagine a tree filled with fruit. Most people assume that the fruit that hangs closest to the ground is the easiest to collect. In sales, quick deals are considered “easy pickings” and offer the most readily achievable goal.

Here’s a little truth about low hanging fruit:

Only inexperienced pickers select the low-hanging fruit first. The truth is...

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