We covered some ways to overcome roofing sales challenges in a prior blog post, and we touched a bit on “wants.” This is a critical part of any sales process, and it’s vital to uncover those customer wants. Here’s how.
Listen CarefullyBefore you try to make the sale, listen closely to your customer. Even ask if you can take notes (ask permission to make them comfortable) to capture important details. The right questions, balanced by listening more than talking, will help you uncover unmet needs and ultimately help you sell more and create a better customer experience.
Certain types of questions can determine exactly what your customer wants when it comes to roofing. Our goal is to understand what the customer is seeking when it comes to roofing, and how they will make their decision. Try to avoid diving in with business questions, because those don’t generate the emotion of buying. On the other hand, if we ask personal questions, we may not have earned the right to do so. That’s why it is very important to start this probe phase with what I call business-personal questions.
Some of my favorite business-personal questions are:
Each of these can lead to many other questions. Take your time and talk less—listening is the key to the process of uncovering wants. Repeat back to the customer the main needs and wants that they communicated so you both know that there’s a clear path forward.
Starting with questions like these is how we separate wants from needs, making roofing more than just a commodity or an expense. We’ll cover the next steps on that path in our next installment, when we explain how to present products, services and price.