When a need can be considered identified. Sample Needs Questions

Hello! In this article, we will walk you through the process of identifying customer needs.

Today you will learn:

• Why is it necessary to determine the needs of customers;
• What are the types of needs?
• How to identify and analyze customer needs;
• What are the mistakes in identifying needs?

Why you need to identify customer needs

The client is the main value of any modern enterprise. The client's problem is the problem of the company, the solution of which is their common goal. The problem solved is the profit of the organization.

It would seem that everything is simple. It is necessary to learn from the buyer about his needs and offer a product that can satisfy them in the best way. However, in practice, sellers face difficulties in identifying these very needs.

Finding out the needs of the client is a task that the company faces several times. The first time the question of determining the needs of the client arises before the development of the product and the formation of the marketing mix.

This is where the rule should work.: do not sell what you have produced, but produce what will definitely be bought from you. Thus, before you start developing a product, you need to determine the needs of the market.

In this case, we first determine the needs in stages. First for the entire target audience. For example, schoolchildren need a pen with putty on the other end.

Then, we break the target audience into segments and define the need more narrowly for each segment. For example, elementary school students need ballpoint pens with putty, and high school students need helium pens.

After that, we can produce goods that will definitely be bought from us.

Needs should be taken into account when forming the marketing mix. For example, parents buy stationery for young children, and they prefer to see the rational advantages of the product, we use this in advertising the product. But older children themselves go to the store. They want to stand out or be like their idols, this can also be used when promoting a product.

At this stage, the needs are determined by analyzing the market, conducting surveys and research. Then a map of the needs of each target segment is drawn up.

However, the question of studying needs arises again. It represents the second stage of the sales process. Let's see what this is for.

The reasons for the need to identify customer needs in the process of selling goods:

• The same product can satisfy different needs, and therefore, it needs to be sold in different ways. For example, someone buys a smartphone to surf the Internet, while someone needs it to make calls and watch video files. Having determined this, the seller will offer the first client a gadget with 4G and good Wi-Fi reception, and the second client will offer a smartphone with a large and bright screen and good sound;
• Knowing the needs of the client, you will be able to properly present the product.
• One of the stages of the sales process is the response to customer objections. It is possible to give an argument that can convince a consumer to buy a product only by knowing his needs. This will allow you to operate with the value content of the product for a particular consumer.
• Knowing the needs allows you to establish a trusting relationship with the buyer: show sympathy, support.

Types of customer needs

There are many different classifications of needs. Remember Maslow's pyramid of needs or Herzberg's two-factor model of needs, but they are ineffective at the stage of product realization.

In sales, it is customary to distinguish two types of needs: rational (they are also called functional) and emotional .

Rational needs - the main needs, without the satisfaction of which the further existence of the individual is impossible. Of course, this is too categorical a definition for the modern world, but in fact it is true. For example, you are walking around the city on a hot summer day and are very thirsty. You will definitely stop at the nearest stall and buy a bottle of water, because without it it will be very difficult to continue the journey.

Operating with the rational needs of the client, it is possible to sell consumer goods: food, clothing, furniture. At the same time, the consumer may not be interested in the financial side of the issue.

When working with such products, emphasis should be placed on the functional benefits of the product. For example, a jacket can be presented like this: “This jacket is made of a cold-reflecting material, it will keep you warm on the street, and at the same time you will not be hot in transport in transport.”

emotional needs arise when the rational ones are satisfied. An example emotional needs may be the need for self-expression or belonging to a group, these are social needs. A product that satisfies an emotional need should reflect the values ​​of the consumer, his worldview.

Branded products can play on the emotional needs of the client. For example, the Apple brand is associated by consumers with a certain status and level. This is the satisfaction of an emotional need.

Selling a product that satisfies an emotional need should be based on the feelings and emotions of the client. For example, the same jacket can be sold like this: “This jacket is the new trend of this season. Mr. “N” himself walks in it!” As Mr. "N" one should present the person referent to the given consumer.

There is another classification useful for salespeople. According to it, internal and external needs are distinguished.

Internal needs associated with personal experiences and fears of the client. For example, a girl buys cosmetics to please herself.

External Needs associated with the desire of a person to gain social recognition. For example, the same girl buys cosmetics to please her boyfriend.

At the same time, despite the fact that the girl in both the first and second examples needs the same product category, the purchases will be different. In the first case, the choice will be based on the personal preferences of the girl, and in the second, on the preferences of the guy.

Stages of identifying customer needs

And now the client is already in your store. You walk up to him and say the classic phrase: “ Can I help you?". The visitor gives his classic response: “ I'll take a look and, if anything, I'll contact you". And that's where your interaction ends. This is a typical mistake.

Step 1. We determine the need.

Before approaching a potential buyer, observe him, see which categories of goods he pays more attention to, conduct an initial collection of information. So you will understand what kind of product he came to your store for. For example, we sell dishes, and our client walks around the trading floor and looks at teapots. From this we can conclude that he came for the teapot. Everything is very simple. The “observation” phase of the process of identifying customer needs should not take more than 30 seconds.

Now you can go to the client. Come up with a suggestion: Good afternoon New teapots were brought to us today, we have not had time to put them on the trading floor yet, let me show them to you" or " We have a kettle that boils 2 liters of water in 30 seconds, let me show it to you”.

By the way, the client can respond to the second sentence by expressing his need: “ I need a bigger kettle" or "I don't need an electric kettle". And with this you can already work. Therefore, at this stage, try to characterize any product in your proposal.

Step 2. Demonstrate and ask questions.

If the client agreed to follow you, then we first show him the goods, and then proceed to the questions.

If he expressed his disinterest in your proposal, then immediately go to the questionnaire with questions. By the way, if you are a novice salesperson, then it will really be useful for you to make a small questionnaire with questions. It does not need to be shown to the client, but it will be more convenient for you to remember all types of questions and situations in which they are used.

Questions are of the following types:

• open- questions that require a detailed answer. Example: “Which kettle do you need?”;
• Closed Questions with one of two possible answers. Example: “Do you need an electric kettle?”;
• Alternative Questions containing two alternative answers. Example: “Do you need an electric or regular kettle?”;
• Rhetorical- serve to maintain a conversation and create a friendly atmosphere. Example: “Is this teapot really beautifully designed?”;
• suggestive– questions that push the client to the correct answer (for us). Example: “If you need a large capacity kettle, then it’s better to take a regular one to save electricity, what do you think?”.

The situations in which one or another type of questions is used are presented in the table.

Step 3. Listen!

After you have passed the question stage, you will have to listen to the objections of the client.

At this stage, two rules must be followed: do not interrupt the client and participate in the conversation. This can be done using the active listening technique. It consists in “giving in” to the client, repeating his last phrases or the key meaning of the phrase. By doing this, you show your interest in what your interlocutor says, and therefore in his problem.

This completes the process of identifying needs, it remains only to bring your interaction with the client to its logical conclusion.

Step 4. We answer.

What to do after identifying needs?

After the client speaks out and tells you about all his problems, answer all his objections with reason. Do not argue with him, evaluate the mood of the interlocutor, cite as arguments the real characteristics of the product that are of value to a particular consumer.

That is, in order to convince the consumer of the need to make a purchase of a product, refer to the needs that we have just identified.

Let's go back to the kettle example. Let's say our client needs a large electric kettle that would allow him to save electricity and boil water for no longer than 3 minutes. We show him a suitable option, but the client says that he is not satisfied with the price.

We return to the needs - saving electricity. Now we can confidently tell our client that in a certain amount of time he will “beat off” the price of the kettle on energy savings and at the same time he will get a quick boil of a large volume of water, which he will not get with any other option.

Common mistakes in identifying needs

The most common mistakes that a manager makes when identifying customer needs are the following:

• salesman monologue. Remember that your goal is to identify needs, and you can only identify them by listening to the client. In an ideal dialogue, the seller and the buyer should participate equally.
• Wrong customer service tactics. As you can see from the data in the table, for some types of consumers, the best option would be the predominance of open questions, and for some - closed ones. In the event of a mistake, there is a high probability that you will lose a buyer.
• Identified one need and stopped. Remember that one need entails the emergence of other, related needs. By identifying them, you can increase sales several times.
• Identification of needs and product presentation in one step This is a very common mistake. First you need to determine the need, and only then, using knowledge of the needs of the client, present the product.
• We interrupt the client. It is impossible to interrupt the client, even if he is wrong and behaves tactlessly. It is necessary to let the buyer speak out, and only then respond to his objections.
• Keep the conversation going on another topic. Your task is to guide the dialogue, do not let the client go far from the topic.

Managers are taught: sell according to needs! But what it is and how to use it is not always explained. The ability to ask the right questions and identify the true needs of customers is the main difference between an experienced salesperson and a beginner. What types of sales needs exist - read on.

Essence of need

Traditionally, a customer's need is understood as the difference between his current state and his ideal state. The wider the line, the greater the motivation to acquire something that will destroy this difference. So when we're thirsty on a walk, we buy a bottle of sparkling water, or when we're dissatisfied with our old clothes, we head to the mall.

In trading, this refers to the difference between what the client has and what he wants to receive. The spectrum of needs is concentrated around profitable distribution and increasing the profitability of the company. The types of customer needs in sales are rather conditionally divided into functional and emotional (individual and social). Let's look at each need in more detail.

The spectrum of needs is concentrated around profitable distribution and increasing the profitability of the company.

Functional Needs

These are the primary, fundamental needs of a person related to his physiological state. Examples are:

• Satisfying thirst or hunger (purchasing food).
• Pain relief (medication).
• Protection from environmental factors (clothing, at home).

Functional needs are key indicators of motivation. Therefore, there are so many products on the market that satisfy the physiological needs of the client: food, clothing, vehicles, children's products. Sooner or later they will still be bought. For companies selling goods of this type, there is no significant competition, but there is an exceptional drawback - the need to constantly update the range and "keep abreast" of sales. Consumer tastes can change quickly.

emotional needs

If the motivation to buy a product is not a functional need, but the opportunity to express oneself, then we are talking about the emotional needs of the client. The purchase of a product becomes for him a reflection of character, values ​​and attitude to life, a kind of self-determination in society. This is most often due to the following factors:

• Acquisition (health, comfort, confidence, pleasure).
• Protection (from pain, risk, embarrassment, doubt).
• Saving (money, time, nerves).
• Self-expression and recognition (individuality).

Appeal to emotions is a long-standing trend in advertising. Consider the classic case of the image of the Marlboro cow, who turned the cigarette manufacturer from the middle peasant into the leader of his industry in the American market.

Economic Needs

Among the economic needs are the following types:

1. Internal (psychological) needs. They are caused by internal fears and experiences of the buyer. For example, buying weight loss products to please yourself.
2. External (social) needs. Mostly this is the desire of the consumer to receive public recognition, to determine himself in a social group and form his own image. Therefore, a person buys branded goods or what is customary to buy in a certain society.

A typical example of the second variety is the demand for certain goods by representatives of one youth subculture.

IDENTIFICATION OF CUSTOMER NEEDS

At this stage, your task is to understand what the client needs, what he may be interested in your goods and services, what exactly his needs are. To do this, the sales representative (agent, manager) asks questions and listens carefully. "Interviewing technique" - the ability to ask questions and listen to the interlocutor - is an important tool in the communication technology of a sales representative.

author Tkachenko Dmitry

Discovery Finding and Identifying Leads The #1 challenge for most sales executives and sales managers working with corporate clients is actively seeking and identifying new leads. And, accordingly, for

From the book Management: lecture notes author Dorofeeva L I

From book Add to cart. Key Principles for Increasing Website Conversions author Isenberg Geoffrey

From the book Human Resource Management for Managers: A Study Guide author Spivak Vladimir Alexandrovich

Identifying Employee Needs The classic formula for business success is "find someone's need and fill it." And although a different approach is now in use (“a person does not know what he needs; show him this and convince him that he needs it”), knowledge of needs

From the book 99 sales tools. Effective Profit Methods author Mrochkovsky Nikolai Sergeevich

Script for determining the needs of the client In most cases, this script is needed by the cashier. It should be used at the moment when the buyer places an order and pays for the selected goods (see template 8). The script looks like this: between the buyer and the cashier there is

From the book Explosive Sales Growth in a Retail Store author Krutov Dmitry Valerievich

Report on determination of customer needs The situation should occur as follows. The customer has made a purchase. The cashier carried out his order and, using the script described earlier, determined the need. It should be included in this report. What does it contain? It's simple enough

From an MBA in Your Pocket: A Practical Guide to Developing Key Management Skills by Pearson Barry

Identification of needs It is important to immediately determine what kind of person came to your store. In Russia they say: "Meet by clothes." It's better to forget about it! Often people dress modestly, but at the same time they are ready to buy goods for a huge amount. If he came in not in a jacket, but in a T-shirt, not

From the book Goldratt's Theory of Constraints. A systematic approach to continuous improvement author Detmer William

From the book Marketing for Government and Public Organizations the author Philip Kotler

From the book How to Sell Hard Choice Products author Repiev Alexander Pavlovich

From the book The Practice of Human Resource Management author Armstrong Michael

Identification and creation of PM If for some reason the company does not have PM products, then you should try to identify them yourself. Necessarily! To do this, you can use the following sources, methods and personal qualities. Marketing guide and sales guide. If

From the book Keys to a partner. The Art and Techniques of Selling the author Aseev Alexey

From the book Hunt for the buyer. Sales Manager's Tutorial author Derevitsky Alexander A.

Identification of Needs Identification of needs is a very serious step that precedes the declaration of initial conditions. The sales manager needs to understand how he should indicate the goal of the negotiations so that it does not look unattainable or, conversely, insignificant. Before

From the book Cards, money, fitness club. A Practical Guide for Sales Managers author Shumilin Alexander Ilyich

Identifying Needs The principle of identifying needs is, in fact, one aspect of the marketing approach to sales. Philip Kotler, in his bestseller The Essentials of Marketing, quoted Peter Drucker: “The goal of marketing is to make sales efforts unnecessary. Its purpose is

From the book Social Entrepreneurship. Mission is to make the world a better place author Lyons Thomas

Identification of needs The stage is no less important and quite logically built into the conversation. Let's just remember that we are selling by phone not a card, but an appointment! So we will identify needs based not on why a person needs a map, but on why he absolutely needs

Need is the inner stimulus of a person. We often hear about the phrase - customer needs. There are a lot of books, trainings, where they teach how to correctly identify needs. Great attention is always paid to identifying sales needs. It is like a key to unraveling the secret desires of the client. There is logic in this, of course.

Identification of sales needs, technique of questions

Everyone knows that identifying needs is important and necessary, which helps with questions of various types, to conduct reconnaissance of the desires and expectations of the client. You can ask a hundred questions and find nothing that will help you make a sale, or you can ask 2-3 open-ended questions and close the deal. It will not be correct to talk about the types of questions and the technique of their application in passing - this topic is very important and extensive, study it.

If you want to master the technique of identifying customer needs, you first need to master. Open-ended questions are questions to which the client will be forced to give a detailed answer. Let's look at a few examples of needs elicitation using open-ended questions:

Examples of open questions to identify customer needs

1. “What should provide you .... ?
2. “What do you expect from…. ?
3. “For what conditions / goals / objectives do you need .... ?
4. “Describe the operating conditions…. »
5. “What should be in this model…. ?
6. “What did you not like about your previous model…. ?
7. How will you use... ?
8. What would you like to see in... ?
9. “Have you had any experience with a similar model…?”
10. “What caught your attention in this model…?”
11. “What are you afraid of, what should not be in …. ?

The client will be forced to answer these questions in detail and in detail. In what the client will tell, you should hear not only the answer to your veiled question, but also many indirect facts that can paint a picture of needs more clearly.

The use of open-ended questions does not end the need-elicitation technique. Alternative and situational questions are also great helpers.

Alternative question example

1. “Do you prefer blue or green…. ?
2. “You are considering a car with manual or automatic…. ?
3. “Is speed or quality more important to you…. ?

Alternative questions help refine the details and narrow down product options, gradually moving closer to closing the deal. You can also use them to push the client to a specific option: “Do you care about a practical or beautiful color…. ?

Examples of situational questions

1. “Did you have that when you…?”
2. “You can imagine how the process is simplified…. ?
3. “Can you imagine what tasks you will have to solve in the future ...?”

Situational questions mentally immerse the client in a situation in which he is forced to draw a parallel between the problem and your product, for example: “Did you have such a situation when you suddenly ran out of memory in your phone…. ? or“Do you agree that bad lighting in a car can lead to big problems? Have you been in a similar situation…. ?

Why identify customer needs and capabilities?

By recognizing in detail the needs of the client - why a person considers your product, what tasks it should perform, you can more accurately offer what the client really needs. But, as the saying goes: "There are customer needs, but there are opportunities." Surely it often happens to you that the manager has worked out the process of identifying needs with high quality, but the person leaves disappointed.

For example, a person wants to buy a good modern TV for himself, there are more than enough needs - he needs a TV, because the old one burned down, spends a lot of time watching movies, but he doesn’t have money to buy such a TV or he simply didn’t know how much modern models cost and was disappointed that can not afford such a purchase. Sometimes a person does not realize that they cannot afford to meet their needs financially. And this is exactly where your task is not to humiliate him with the words “I see you just don’t have enough money, we will wait for you when you collect the required amount”, but to carefully bring him to what he can really buy and this is what should satisfy the main sore and aching part his needs.

It turns out that when identifying the needs of the client, we forget about the main thing - to identify opportunities - how much money does this person have for the purchase? If we are talking about the real practice of sales, then the capabilities and needs of the client are inseparable things.

The main thing is to feel the real possibilities of the client - the maximum amount of money that he is ready to spend now. If you make a mistake, there will be no sale!

There are only two ways to identify opportunities - secretly and openly. With an explicit method, everything is clear - you can ask the client: “how much do you expect?” or "what's your buying budget?" and maybe he will tell you, and maybe he will also tell the truth?

Many still forbid revealing opportunities by an explicit method, arguing that you put a person in an awkward position with a direct question about money, look into your pocket and all that .... This is a completely normal question, but not in the first minute of communication. At the beginning of the article there are links to the study of the technique of formation and application of questions.

And finally, you can secretly identify opportunities by observing the reaction of the client when you offer him an option that you think is suitable for you and listen carefully to him. Here you can recall a lot of techniques, for example, such as the SPIN of the 80s. years or something else, but the meaning is the same - narrowing the number of options through questions. The bottom line is that when you go to a specific option (want to offer a specific product), based on the identified needs of the client, you are faced with the impasse described above “needs-opportunities” because often the purchase budget has not been clarified.

Three Question Technique

How can we be sure, you ask? Let's remember the saying: "Learn from the mistakes of others". Try a technique that rarely fails. Its meaning lies in three questions, asking which, you will receive all the information that is necessary to proceed to the sale.

1. “Please tell me what it should be…? My task is to offer you the best for the amount you expect. Let the client tell you everything himself, do not “load” him with questions - situational, problematic, etc. After that, select the appropriate option and make a presentation.
2. “If you plan to buy soon, can you take advantage of a special offer that is only valid until …..?” The client's response will let you know how to work further. Work with goods in stock, or just make a presentation for the future and exchange contacts.
3. “This option meets your expectations, can we place an order?” leading to a specific option and waiting for a response from the client. It is very important! Invite people to buy what you present.

Make the client talk, find out why he came? Wherever you work and whatever you sell, use this method, adapt this model to your product and earn more. When you ask these questions, you'll be surprised how talkative customers are.

Identification of customer needs by the method: "Finish the house"

I will open for you a look at the sale through the achievement by the client of the full scope of conditions. Let me explain with an example:

Imagine that the consumer's awareness that "I BUY THIS" consists of many elements - "constructor elements". And the decision “I BUY IT” is “a completed house from a designer”. So "house" will be considered "home" only when all the elements of the constructor are in place.

Let's imagine that a client comes to you and you start building a house, right? In fact, everything is 100% wrong. This is the trap that we all fall into when offering our products or services - we are trying to build a new house, and not finish building one that has already been started. What does it mean? This means that without you, a person has decided what he wants to buy, how much he is willing to spend, in what time frame he will do it, and so on. He performed an action - he came to you, and this means that he is driven by a motive - a born need for something. Find out exactly what motive is your task.

You just have to complete the house - put a couple of cubes - offer only what it lacks, it is the word LACKS that is the key to "I BUY IT".

But you can’t directly ask: “what do you need to buy this”? So - YOU CAN! There are just so many ways to ask this question. Create your own sales question that fits your field of activity and you will see how the results of your meetings with the client have changed. Customer needs are different, they are similar in structure to the problem - it needs to be solved and quickly.

Sample question: “I see you like everything, but something confuses you. What is this? If it `s not a secret?"

Sell ​​what's missing - if the customer lacks confidence in a product, sell confidence by shaping it with facts. If features are missing, sell features by demonstrating them. It turns out that when we dig too deep and ask the client: “Why do you need it? Take it!” or "Are you sure you need it?" or "You don't need it at all!"- with these phrases we knock out brick by brick and break the house - "I BUY THIS."

Conclusion

Work with a person here and now, and do not try to break the already formed early basis, consisting of beliefs, stereotypes and sympathies - this is the easiest and easiest way to close the deal. If the customer is leaning toward a particular brand, consider buying that particular brand. Kill fears and To overcome very difficult objections, you need a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge to rebuild needs from scratch.

How do you identify the needs of your customers? Share your secrets in the comments!

One of the main stages of personal selling is identifying the needs of customers. The path to the sale of a product or service certainly runs through a very careful clarification and study of the needs of the client. It is important to remember that the basis for the sale is not at all the product and not even its characteristics, but the benefit that the buyer receives from its acquisition. Numerous studies have proven that the best results are obtained if the buyer speaks 90% of the time and the seller speaks only 10%, the rest of the time he listens and delves into the desire of the client.

Oddly enough, but you can identify the needs of the client by arousing his trust. To do this, you need to talk, ask the right questions in a conversation. For example, you can’t ask “How can I help you?” You need to replace this phrase with “What interests you?”. The seller's task is to find out by what algorithm the client makes a purchase decision and only after that offer the necessary product.

There are two types of customer needs:

1. Basic. These needs refer to the products that the buyer plans to receive. Also, these needs are called rational.
2. Unforeseen. These needs provide satisfaction beyond what was expected from the purchase of the product. They are also called emotional.

There are effective methods for determining the needs of the client:

• Open questions. Such a question begins with an interrogative word and assumes a detailed answer from the client, i.e. gives him the opportunity to speak as clearly as possible and for as long as he wants. Example of an open-ended question: "What is important to you when choosing a phone?"
• Single language. It is important not only to speak correctly with the client, but also to provide information in a language that is accessible to him. To do this, use value words (with the help of them the buyer can describe his needs and motives). An example of the wording of value words: cost savings, attractive appearance of the product.
• Feature and benefit. You should use the benefit to describe the product and avoid features. The client may not react to the characteristic in any way or even react negatively. The benefit always presents the product on the positive side. Example: characteristic - small size (as a negative, the client may think that it is easy to lose, it is not solid). Benefit - this product will take up little space, you can always take it with you.

It is necessary to clearly identify the main needs of customers and separate them from secondary ones. This is very important in order to motivate the buyer to purchase the goods to meet their primary needs. If, however, to offer and describe the benefits of the product, which are secondary to him, then the client may get the impression that he needs to pay for something that is not essential for him, and generally disrupt the transaction.

To find a potential client, you need to do a detailed study of his needs.

The process of studying the needs of the client can be divided into 3 parts:

1. Determine if the product is being used or not.
2. Determine if the product satisfies the need.
3. Determine the reasons for dissatisfaction, if any.

In order to understand how to find out the needs of the client, it is necessary to study the technique of three questions: “What now? What if? What then? By answering these questions regarding the purchase of goods, it will be possible to understand what the client needs and offer him the appropriate products.