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Chapter 11
DETERMINING CUSTOMER NEEDS WITH A
CONSULTATIVE QUESTIONING STRATEGY
EXTENDED PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. Involves meeting customer needs by asking strategic questions, listening to
2. Consultative selling is a very customer-centric form of selling that creates value for
the customer and, in the process, creates value for the firm.
3. Approach is very different from product-oriented selling.
4. Consultative selling leads to:
a. Increased customer satisfaction.
1. Begins during approach with questions or survey at initial contact.
2. Need discovery forms essence of salespeople being able to create value, meet the
3. High-performance salespeople have learned how to skillfully diagnose and solve the
customer’s problems better than their competitors.
4. Problem-solving capability translates into more repeat business and referrals and
fewer order cancellations and returns.
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5. Need discovery in the information economy is a critically important part of the sales
presentation.
6. Need discovery generally begins after transition from the approach.
7. In multi-call situations:
8. Pace, scope, depth, and time allocated to inquiry depend on variety of factors:
a. Sophistication of the product.
1. Emphasis in sales and marketing today is on determining customer needs and then
selecting or configuring custom-fitted solutions to satisfy these needs.
2. Salesperson must choose the product or service that will provide maximum
3. Value-added needs analysis moves salesperson to create a “custom–fitted” product for
the customer.
4. Ability to conduct an effective, value-added needs analysis helps salesperson achieve
1. Consists of communicating to customer, both verbally and nonverbally, satisfaction to
be gained from product or service.
2. Emphasis placed on statements rather than on questions.
3. Statements are organized to inform, persuade, and/or remind customer of most
1. Servicing the sale is a major way to create value.
2. Ensures maximum customer satisfaction and sets stage for long-term relationship
with customer.
3. Includes suggestion selling, making credit arrangements, following through on
1. Only way to determine and confirm the problem is to get the other person talking.
2. Effective relationship builders are willing to listen to better understand customer
challenges.
3. Questions that lead to consultative conversations, open doors to greater opportunities.
4. Must obtain information to properly clarify the need, propose a single solution, or
offer a range of solutions.
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5. Customers may not realize that they actually have a problem.
6. Bringing new insights regarding both buying problems and enhanced solutions
creates value for customers.
1. Effective communication, following precall preparation, between the salesperson and
1. Effective use of questions to achieve need identification and need satisfaction is one
of the greatest challenges facing most professional salespeople
2. Asking high-value-added questions that enlighten your prospect both about their
needs and possible solutions results in an immediate sale.
3. The strategic approach to asking questions has been the focus of two major studies.
4. The spin-selling model
a. Questions help:
1) Clarify the exact dimensions of the problem.
2) Help the customer evaluate a range of solutions.
3) Assist the customer in evaluating the potential outcome of the solution that is
implemented.
5. The use of investigative or need-discovery stage of the sales process has the most
impact on the buyer’s decision to purchase a product.
6. Mastering the use of questions can increase one’s success in sales by 17 percent.
7. Personal selling skills model – in successful sales calls, the duration is 30 minutes on
1) Use effective questions to gather information and build a clear, complete,
mutual understanding of customer needs.
2) Guide the direction of a sales call by striking an appropriate balance between
open and closed questions.
3) Use their questioning strategy to facilitate an open exchange of information.
1. Survey questions reveal the customer’s problems and are used to collect
information about the buyers existing situation.
1) Open questions require the prospect to go beyond a simple yes/no
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2) Closed questions can be answered with a yes or no, or a brief response:
2. Probing questions
a. Reveal the customer’s pain and help the salesperson uncover and clarify the
3. Confirmation questions reveal mutual understanding and are used throughout
the sales process to verify the accuracy and assure a mutual understanding of
information exchanged by the salesperson and the buyer.
4. Need-satisfaction questions reveal pleasure and are designed to move the sales
process toward commitment and action.
5. Qualifying to eliminate unnecessary questions
a. Important to avoid the use of unnecessary questions during a sales call.
1. Salespeople with high levels of customer orientation truly care about customers
2. They engage in actions that customers value such as listening to customer feedback
1. Active listening is the process of sending back to the prospect what you as a listener
think the person meant.
2. Active listening requires intense involvement as you concentrate on what you are
hearing.
3. Developing active-listening skills involves three practices that can be learned by any
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1) Listening for the emotions in your client’s conversation enables you to receive
1) After the customer stops talking, pause for two or three seconds and then state
1) Taking accurate notes is a good way to demonstrate to the customer that you
are actively listening.
2) Note taking is especially important in complex sales.
C. Establish buyer motives, or reasons for buying.
1. Primary goal of questioning, listening, and acknowledging is to uncover prospect
needs and establish buying motives.
2. When a customer has a definite need, it is usually supported by specific buying
motives.
3. The greatest time investment in personal selling is on the front end of the sales
process:
a. Plan the sales call and then, once face-to-face with the customer, can begin the
need discovery stage.
b. It is during the early stage of the sales process the greatest value for the customer
can be created.
V. Selecting Solutions That Create Value
A. Salespeople are no longer selling just a “product”; instead, they are providing a valuable
“solution” to customer problems.
B. Consultative salespeople act as product experts and generally provide a customized
1. Today’s more demanding customers seek a cluster of satisfactions that arise from the
2. Value-added salespeople sell three things: the product, the company, and themselves.
3. When possible, the salesperson should focus on benefits related to each dimension of
1. Selecting the right solution is referred to by many sales organizations as “product
configuration.”
2. If sale involves several needs and the satisfaction of multiple–buying motives,
3. In some selling situations, the salesperson will solely create the solution based on the
needs analysis.
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4. In more complex selling situations, however, both salesperson and customer often
play an active role and cocreate the solution.
a. Research reveals this process often helps customers better understand their own
needs and conceive of possible solutions that fit those needs.
b. This application of the Value-Added Product-Selling Model creates value and
customers make smarter buying choices that conform to the salesperson’s
1. Recommend solution – customer buys immediately.
2. Recommend solution – salesperson makes need-satisfaction presentation.
3. Recommend another source – perhaps a coworker who is a specialist.
F. Need discovery and the transactional buyer
1. Most of these buyers want the salesperson to configure a product solution that focuses
on pricing and delivery issues.
2. When working with the transactional buyer, it is important to understand the
difference between a transaction and a consultative relationship.
3. Transactions create one-time value; consultative relationships create long-term value
1. Early involvement on the customer’s part is crucial early in a sales call (see Figure
11.5).
H. Transitioning to the presentation
1. Use summary-confirmation questions to adjust from need identification to
presentation of features and benefits.
1. Service
2. B2B
3. B2C