Situation Questions are the base from which you’ll build your entire sales conversation, since they’ll help you get a better understanding of your prospect’s current circumstances. And on top of this, they can also help your prospect discover problems that they have which they might not be aware of.
All of this is important, because once you’ve established a foundation in the prospect’s mind of what their situation is, you can then start building the gap from where they are now to where they ultimately want to be.
Remember, some prospects may not even know what their real situation is when you begin speaking with them. And if you can’t help them see what their real situation looks like, then you can’t begin to build a gap between their current circumstances and the outcome that they desire the most.
With that said, here’s an everyday example of what a sequence of Situation Questions might sound like:
“Okay, walk me through this. What are you doing now to [repeat the problem they’re trying to solve or the goal they’re trying to achieve]?”
“And how long have you been doing that for?”
“So, out of curiosity, what led you to go down that route rather than [alternative options for solving their problem]?”
Here’s another example:
“Okay, as I was reading through your application, you mentioned that you’re having issues with [repeat the problem they’re facing]. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?”
“And besides that, is there anything else that’s going on?”
“So, are you doing anything now to try to resolve the [problem they’re facing]?”
“Oh. How long have you been doing that for?”
“Okay. Is there anything else that you’re doing?”
“Just out of curiosity, how did you get involved with that?”
Alright. After you’ve asked the relevant Situation Questions and you feel like you have a good understanding of your prospect’s current circumstances, you’ll move on to the next type of questions, which are known as Problem Awareness Questions.
Problem Awareness Questions not only give you a better understanding of what your prospect’s real problems are, but also the root causes of those problems, as well as how these problems are affecting them negatively. And, as hinted at earlier, these are the questions that allow you to build the gap from where your prospect is now to where they want to be instead.
You see, traditional sales advice tells you to be a problem solver. The problem with this, though, is that solving a problem only happens after your prospect buys your product or service.
So, in order to stand out and get a competitive edge, you actually need to become a problem finder. After all, you can’t solve problems unless you first find them, can you?
And the thing is, most of your prospects don’t even know they have a problem when you first speak with them. In other words, if you can’t help them realize the problems they’re facing and have them emotionally engage with those issues, it’s pretty much impossible for them to feel any urgency to buy from you.
With that said, here’s a general example of how the sequence of Problem Awareness Questions might sound:
“Okay. So, with the [name of their current product or service] that you’re using now, do you . . . do you like . . . the results you’ve been getting?” (Here, the ellipses, or three periods, show that you should intentionally slow down and pause. You see, doing this naturally moves your prospects to think deeper about their problems, which not only gets them to open up emotionally and tell you how their problems are affecting them personally, but also builds tension inside of them.)
Now, if the prospect says, “Yes,” here’s a sequence of questions that you can respond with:
“Oh. And what do you like about it?”
“So, to me, it looks like things are pretty much going 100% perfectly for you. Is there anything you would change about the results you’re getting . . . if you could?”
Here, since most people don’t like what they do or have with 100% satisfaction, your prospects will likely say, “Well, we like them, but it’s not 100% perfect.”
Then you can respond by asking, “Not 100% perfect?”
On the other hand, if the prospect says, “No, I don’t like it,” here’s a group of questions you can respond with:
“And what is it about your [name of their current product or service] that you don’t like?”
“Oh. How long has that been going on for?”
“Could you give me some specific examples of when that happened, just so I understand?”
“Oh. So, has that . . . has that had an impact on you?”
“In what way, though?”
“And in addition to you, is there anyone else who is impacted by this right now?”
“So, what makes you want to change this?”
“But why is that important to you . . . now though?”
“Okay. Then besides [reason #1 that they’ve already told you] and [reason #2], what’s the main reason why you might be looking at [your product or service] rather than [repeat their alternative that you might get objections to]?”