To Convey More Value to Buyers, Ask The Right Questions

To Convey More Value to Buyers, Ask The Right Questions

Helping buyers perceive the value that your company, product or service offers them is one of the most significant things you can do to ensure a positive buying decision. In fact, your ability to convey meaningful value is what keeps potential clients engaged and mo­tivated throughout the process and thus more likely to say yes.

If you ask salespeople whether they are effectively communi­cating the value they will deliver to their buyers, most will say that they are. Yet 80% of buyers state that the meetings they have with salespeople provide no value to them and waste their time. Sales leaders agree. In a recent survey asking them what their top priority was for their salespeople, their number one response was to improve their salespeople’s ability to communicate value.

Why is there such a disconnect between how buyers and sales leaders perceive salespeople and how sellers perceive themselves? It’s due to a powerful bias known as the false consensus effect, which is our natural tendency to overestimate the extent to which others agree with our point of view or what we’re saying. The false consensus effect particularly misleads salespeople as they are presenting the central value proposition of their product to ob­tain a client’s buy‑in, which the success of the sale hinges on. In their eagerness to close the deal, they frequently misinterpret a buyer’s nod, silence, or ambiguous statement, like “That makes sense,” as a signal that the buyer understands and agrees with the value they’re sharing. In fact, one of the main reasons why buyers don’t assign value to what they’re being presented with isn’t be­cause the salesperson didn’t convey the value, but because buyers didn’t recognize it.

As I share how to present the value you can provide in ways that will help buyers recognize and appreciate it, here are two principles to keep in mind.

The brain’s assessment of value is flexible and easily in­fluenced by a variety of factors. A research study by Richard Thaler demonstrates this brilliantly. Thaler first asked participants to imagine relaxing at the beach on a hot summer day. Then he told them to imagine becom­ing thirsty and asked how much they would be willing to pay to get a cold beer at an upscale hotel and at a small, run-down grocery store, each by the beach. Participants were willing to pay 76% more for the same beer from the ritzy hotel than from the grocery store simply based on the description of each. What this study and others confirm is that the way something is conveyed influences the amount of value we perceive in it and how much we are willing to pay for it.

The key to ensuring that potential clients understand the value your company/ product/service will provide is to make it easy for their brains to recognize it. The more cognitively demanding it is for buyers to perceive value, the less likely it is they will. This is why your job is to communicate that value in ways that are clear, con­cise, and easily understood. In other words, it’s not what you’re selling but how you’re selling it that makes all the difference.

Asking the Right Questions

You can present value in a way that potential clients can easily grasp by asking them questions that prompt them to assess it. I refer to these questions as assessment questions because they actively engage potential clients in thinking through and voicing their responses to the information you’ve shared. This neutralizes the false con­sensus effect by ensuring that you never assume your buyers un­derstand or agree with an important value proposition you’ve shared unless they confirm it verbally.

Here’s a look at a few examples of assessment questions that prompt buyers to contemplate and share their thoughts on a value proposition you have presented:

  • As you think about what we’ve discussed, what do you believe would be the biggest benefits you would receive from our service?
  • If your employees went through our virtual training, how do you think it would help improve their efficiency?
  • Would you ever consider investing in a product that did not include this feature?
  • Does what I’ve shared address your concerns about whether we are the right company to partner with on this project?
  • Does our five- step installation process give you the peace of mind that if there are any issues, we can catch them early and correct them right away?

Researchers have identified that when a credible presenter de­livering a persuasive message— such as at a sales presentation – asks these types of questions, people are more convinced by what’s been presented. That’s because these questions prompt people to think about the value behind the message; and because they are contemplating it, they are naturally more persuaded by it. In the same way, asking assessment questions, which inspire buyers to think about and affirm a statement of value essential to the sale, will greatly improve the likelihood they’ll choose to do business with you.

Regardless of how your potential clients respond to your as­sessment question, you are always better off having asked it. If they endorse the value you’ve conveyed, then you can move confidently to the next step in the process. If they don’t agree with it, you now know their concern and can immediately address it to get the sale back on track.

Many salespeople have reported that when they begin using questions to help potential clients mentally digest the value they could deliver, sales skyrocket. Developing the skill of using assessment questions takes practice, but once mastered, it will significantly improve your effectiveness.

This article is excerpted from David Hoffeld’s new book, “Sell More With Science.” You can learn more about Hoffeld and the book here.

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