8 Powerful Sales Questions to Ask a Client to Determine Their Needs

How do you ask effective sales questions to determine the needs of your clients? What questions should you ask a potential client?

See, today’s customers aren’t easy to predict. Their needs and wants cannot be assumed. In fact, 61% of sales reps say selling is becoming harder than it was a few years back.

According to sales professionals at Easy-Essay, a company that offers the best online writing services online, customers are is sometimes not aware of what they want even though there is plenty of information on the internet. To serve them well, we must ask the right questions.

If you are looking for good sales questions to ask customers so you can determine their core needs, this article is for you.

Asking your customers good sales questions will help you present your message to them and prove to them that you can provide solutions to their problems.

Note that all sales questions can help you to understand your customer’s needs but some questions are more powerful and useful and can be asked to every potential customer regardless of their specific needs.

Those are the questions we have compiled for you in this article.

Let’s get started.

1.    What Topic Do You Want to Discuss?

This is perhaps the first question to start and shape the direction of the conversation. Also, asking this question will help determine the specific issue the client is facing.

This powerful sales question will also help you to think about further questions geared toward determining the clients’ needs.

You can also ask this question if you are new to the client or you have a connection but you haven’t done any business with them.

Your client may pick a topic they want you to talk about. It’s also important to preserve questions that require a “yes” “no” answer for another day.

2.    What Made You To Consider Our Products?

This is one of the powerful sales questions and the most complex one although better than asking what your customers need.

Of course, clients may have several reasons that prompted them to look into your products. For instance, their current needs or challenges or perhaps the client is looking to change products.

The client may think back and reflect before answering this question. It is, therefore, important for you to analyze the answer every client gives. You also need to have good follow-up questions to ask once the client answers you.

3.    What’s Your Next Cause of Action?

This is perhaps the last question you will ask if you are nearing to close the sale.

This comes after you’ve determined your clients’ needs, pitched to them and solved any complaints. Now you need to find out their client’s next step.

Chances are that the clients will tell you they are ready to move forward. This will help you to determine your next step as well.

Some clients will ask you to allow them some time to think about it. This means you still have to do some convincing before you win the client’s heart.

Here, you shouldn’t push the client to do what you want them to do but allow them to make their own decision. This will help you determine what questions to ask them further.

4.    What Are Your Goals?

When a client what their goals are, it would be easier for you to determine what you can do best to help them achieve those goals. You could also ask this question together with “What do you sell or what do you do?” so that you can also understand their products or services.

Your products could be the ones your clients are looking for so probing into their business goals could help you close the sale much faster.

5.    What’s Your Current Situation?

Before you start asking sales questions, you need to do some little research on your clients’ website. Chances are that you can get answers to the questions you will be asking and clients will be annoyed to see that you didn’t do your research before approaching them.

Understanding your clients’ current situation will help you know the problems they are facing at the moment. This way, you can tell whether your products can help to solve the problems or you need to find our other alternatives to help your customers.

6.    What Factors Do You Consider When Making A Purchase Decision?

Clients don’t just buy products without evaluating certain factors. Asking a client this question will help you determine how the client evaluates your products and those of your competitors before reaching out to their wallets.

Clients consider factors such as price, terms, etc. You need to prove to the client that your products meet all the standards the client is looking for. This will help you to stand out from the crowd.

7.    Who Supplies Your Products and Why Did You Choose Them?

It’s no doubt your potential client is using solutions from other companies or businesses. Ask the client which products or services they are currently using and the reasons why they choose that particular supplier or vendor, the good and bad sides and their reasons to opt for another supplier.

8.    Do You Have Anything You Want Us To Talk About?

At this stage, you’ve finished presenting your products to your prospect but you don’t want them to go without making sure you’ve solved their concerns.  Instead of this question, you could ask the client a question like “Do you have any other problem apart from the ones we’ve talked about?”

If there is any other concern, you need to solve it before closing the sales process.  In fact, during your conversation, if you noticed the client was responding negatively or couldn’t seem to be comfortable answering some questions, you shouldn’t go without asking this question.

You could have asked a question that didn’t go well with them and so it’s important to make sure everything is sorted before you proceed.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it: eight powerful questions to ask a client to determine their needs. If you are not sure what your client wants, don’t assume that you can provide them with solutions to their problems. Asking your prospective clients these powerful questions is a sure way to know how to serve them appropriately.

Isabell Gaylord is a content marketing specialist, professional essay writer, and journalist. She’s passionate about writing articles where she can share her thoughts and experience with other people.