Use questions to find the pain

Author - Mick Merrick

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Use questions to find the pain

We’ve talked about the power of questions to get to the real issues before. We’ve also talked about finding the customer’s pain. There is a specific type of question to use to get to the pain.
 
We call these questions issue questions. They are the questions that get to the problems the customer is experiencing – problems which you can solve.
 
In order to get a better sense of the way these questions are used, let’s take an example. Imagine you are selling simple components. You have built your reputation on always having stock, so you have the best delivery record in your industry. If you are meeting a new customer, you’ll ask all the factual questions about what they buy, how often, what they pay, etc. But the issue questions, like, “what happens if your supplier is out of stock?” will allow you to have a discussion about all the lost  production, the late nights catching up on orders, the overtime payments to meet their deadlines, all of which are painful to the customer.  Then you can tell him about your stocking policy, and the reason it will save him from all that pain.
 
Issue questions are incredibly powerful for getting you to the point where you can really sell your benefits. Why not create a list of questions now that are relevant to your business?