Solving people's and organization's problems is ultimately whatbusiness is all about. Effective selling involves defining yourexisting or potential customer's problems. If properly "sold",a sales prospect will have his problems solved with yourcompany's products or services. To be successful at selling,you must systematically approach customers with a provenrepertoire of qualifying questions that allows you to clearlyunderstand your customer's current business challenges.

In order to most effectively solve your customer's problems youhave to ask questions, the "right" questions and mostimportantly, listen to the answers you get. The best source ofinformation about a sales prospect's business problem is theprospect themselves. However, any seasoned salesperson willtell you that the customer does not always know what theirproblem is, how it happened or how to deal with it. Without aproven list of problem definition questions, a salesperson haslittle chance of achieving sales success.

In every selling situation, there are eight fundamentalquestions that must be answered to ultimately generate apurchase commitment, a solution to your customer's problems:

1) Does the customer know exactly what the business problemis? Are they giving you symptoms of a problem or the problemitself?

2) How long has the problem existed? Is this a temporarysituation or an ongoing challenge?

3) What will happen if the problem continues? Short and longterm ramifications should be explored

4) What has been done thus far to address the problem?This answer could be your "door opener" later!

5) What were the results of those efforts to "fix" theproblem? Actions taken and money spent should be quantifiedhere

6) What is the cost thus far of this problem? Here you candetermine what it cost them NOT to have your company'sproducts

7) Are there budgeted funds available to "fix" this problem?If there aren't, why not and will there be? If not, goodluck!

8) Who is involved and how is the purchase commitment to bemade?

You must clearly understand who the decision makers are and howthe commitment decision is to be made. If you do not, therewill always be "someone else" who will kill your deal withinthe organization!

Once you have valid answers to all these questions you canaccurately determine whether the products or services yourcompany has to offer can cost effectively solve your customer'sproblems. If your products or services can solve yourcustomer's problem you now have something to talk about!

Before you begin your sales pitch, your explanation of how yourofferings best meet their needs, be absolutely sure that youhave all the decision makers at your presentation and haveconfirmed the money is budgeted to back up their purchases. Ifall the key decision makers are not present and you are notsure the funds are there to continue the relationship yourprobability of achieving sales success at this customer hasbeen dramatically reduced!

One Final Question: Ask for the Order!

You may be wondering why, "Asking for the order" was not one ofthe "8 Key Questions to Ask in Every Selling Situation"? Whenyou know your product or service can solve your customer'sproblem cost effectively, and it is clear they understand andsincerely appreciate the value of your product or serviceofferings to a level of justification that they can, and will,make a reasonable purchase commitment to you, you have ANOBLIGATION, not only to your company, but to your customer, toask them to buy what your are selling! A simple way to do thisis to ask: "What do you want to do next?" ? say nothing moreuntil they respond.

Effective selling can be as simple as striving to get accurateanswers to these fundamental problem qualification questions.It is most interesting to experience how systematically goingthrough these eight questions with your potential customer willreduce their tendency to generate purchase objections. Also,there is an interesting relationship or "bond" thatdevelops between the salesperson and the customer when they areasked to explain and again experience why it cost so much forthem NOT to have your products or services in their lives!

Today's successful salesperson is a problem solver. How youdefine your customer's business problems can often be asimportant as how you eventually solve their problems. Use thesefundamental problem definition questions as a format for yournext sales call and see what happens. They could be the edgeyou need to get that order you thought you would never get!

About the Author:

Mark Smock is 30+ year veteran of the sales profession andPresident of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, the FIRSTinternational business buyer directory of its kind. BusinessBuyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for proactivebusiness buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide thatmeet their exact registered purchase criteria.

RELATED ARTICLES Why Salespeople Dont Take Risks Proponents of traditional sales training simply teach the material, sometimes in a very entertaining format, but they place the responsibility for using the material on the salesperson.So what happens? The salesperson sits at home, stuck with personal flaws related to identity, and he can't perform. Probe Before You Sell When selling a product to a customer, it is very important to find out as much as you can about your customer and their needs before you proceed with your sale.This is commonly referred to as "needs based selling. Stop Selling! for the Million Dollar Contract During the introduction of the "Stop Selling!" philosophy, we typically use the example of buying shoes to make the participants aware of the infinite number of ways buyers decide on purchasing simple items.While using this example makes it easy to get a deeper understanding of buying behavior, it often creates doubts as to whether the "Stop Selling!" approach is equally applicable to selling high-value solutions in business-to-business (B2B) settings. How to Achieve Sales Goals by Focusing on Activities When I broke into sales in 1986, I read several books that talked about how important it was to set goals if you wanted to achieve success. I bought into the idea completely and started writing down extensive lists of goals that I expected to achieve, along with due dates for each goal. How To Give Your Sales Job A Strategic Tune-up In happens every year in June.Six months down and six months to go. Want to Make More Money? Fish in a Bigger Pond! Setting prices is a dilemma most service business owners encounter at one time or another. This week, it was Susan's turn. A Stupid Question This is a stupid question but it has to be asked.Does your sales letter create as many sales as you would like?What proportion of them respond to your advert?What is just as important, how many of those that responded actually purchased your product?How can you improve the response rate?How many new email addresses did you capture?Do you have an 'opt in' strategy so that you can mail them later with more offers without being accused of spamming?Let us look at the sales letter first. Three Types of Salespeople "There are three kinds of salespeople; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who are wondering what happened." You've probably heard that one before. 10 Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your Sales 1. Find a strategic business partner. Sales Discipline: Five Steps To Recover From A Lost Sale Ever lost a sale? Of course you have, we all have. The difference between the average salesperson and the great salesperson is how quickly you recover from the lost sale. Woo the Buyers Limbic Mind or All Your Sales Efforts are Wasted If you've driven yourself crazy trying to figure out why so many customers get away, relax. You can't figure it out because. The Choice between Yes and Yes: A Psychological Revelation Three year old Kara was throwing a tantrum. She didn't want to go to bed, of that she was certain. 11 Secrets to Leadership in Sales In his classic book, "Think and Grow Rich", Napoleon Hill discussed the eleven secrets of leadership. In reading this work, it appears that the attributes of strong leadership and effective selling have a tremendous amount in common. Are You Doing What It Takes To Win More Sales What does it take to be a WINNER during these challenging times? Do you really know what it takes to win more sales? It takes . . Customers Want You to Ask for the Money Many years ago, I was the one starting a small business. I ran a part-time resume service out of my New York apartment. 7 Keys to Turning Cold Calls Into Warm Calls Let's face it when it comes to cold calling many of us fear being rejected. What if I was to tell you I have come up with 7 keys to turning your cold calls into warm calls? Would you believe me?Try these 7 cold calling ideas for yourself and see just how easy making a cold call can really be. How to Use Humor to Increase Sales Using cartoons can help brand your marketing and drive home important messages. Although surprisingly inexpensive to acquire, humor can be one of your most powerful marketing tools. How to Build a Repeat Client Base in Automobile Sales Here is a question I recently received from a young automobile salesperson:"I'm a sales rep just starting off. I am 21 years old and have nine months experience at a (auto dealership) store. Sales As A Positive Experience No matter what your age or stage in life, some words come with preconceived meaning. "Sales" is one of them. The Choice between Yes and Yes: A Psychological Revelation Three year old Kara was throwing a tantrum. She didn't want to go to bed, of that she was certain.