It’s simple: identifying customer’s pain points is one of the keys to being a successful salesperson. And for B2B companies, it’s critical to know how to do this in those first few meetings with a potential client or customer. If you can clearly articulate and identify his or her pain points, and then center your marketing strategy around them, you can position your products or services as a solution to problems that have been nagging them for a long time.
But like anything else when it comes to sales, you can’t perfect the art of identifying pain points unless you follow a few simple rules. Here are 5 “musts” if you want to find out what your customer’s pain points are:[Tweet “Identifying the pain points of your customers is key in B2B selling!”]
Ask open-ended questions
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how few people make a habit of doing this in meetings. In the introductions, yes, you can talk about yourself, but keep it brief. As soon as the room knows who you are and why you’re there, begin asking the potential client or clients open-ended questions about their organization. You’d be amazed at some of the answers you’d get by simply asking “why”?
Listen more than you talk
The best sales meetings are discussions, not presentations. Engaging customers in a discussion is one of the easiest ways to identify their pain points, but as many salespeople are naturally talkative and outgoing, it can be difficult for many to do just that. If you’ve memorized your pitch and performed it hundreds of times, it’s much more difficult to engage in real dialogue, but that’s exactly what it takes to really get to know your customer.
It’s been said that many people prefer to hear themselves speak, or to talk about themselves, than to listen to someone else. By providing a listening ear, you not only absorb what the customer truly needs, but you also create a sense of trust, which is very important to building that salesperson/customer relationship.
Once you’re in conversations with your potential customers, it’s important to not only listen to what they have to say, but write it down. If you need further clarification on something they said, don’t hesitate to ask more open-ended questions about it. Note taking and other forms of active listening strategies will create an engaging environment.
Show them you understand their business
Rather than coming into a meeting asking, “so what’s not working?” take initiative to get to know their business and find similar instances or cases where your solution has worked. When it’s appropriate, provide those case studies or whitepapers to them in the meeting, or even as a follow-up email.
Once you’ve shown them that you understand how that industry or business operates, you are then free to ask if those challenges sound familiar. This provides another opportunity for you to listen to their response and gauge in further detail what their pain points might be.
Provide references in addition to case studies
After the overview of your solutions or any case studies, another recommendation is offering up some examples of clients you’ve worked with who are in or similar to your prospect’s industry. These references (with their approval, of course) make for great discussions with customers. References give you and your solutions further credibility in a real-world scenario.
Personalize your follow up
If you’ve followed the first four rules, you’ve walked away from the discussion with a better understanding of your customer’s pain points. Now, you can customize any follow up discussions or emails by attaching playbooks, pricing plans, and other files and documents to your emails. By focusing on and customizing these higher priority accounts, you can create a workflow that works best for your team.
Solving a client’s problem is impossible without knowing what the problem is in the first place. Instead of starting off your meeting by pitching your solution, getting to know your customer’s pain points can mean the difference in whether or not you sign on a new client.
By actively listening, taking notes, asking questions, and providing materials to help give you credibility, such as white papers and references, your meetings will take on new life and be more productive. People are much more likely to open up about their problems if they feel someone is listening and if they can trust that person. And once they tell you what their pain points are, you can better position your solution to meet those needs and close the sale.
Alaysia Brown
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- The Secret to B2B Selling: Identify the Pain Points of Your Customers - November 9, 2016