Implication
I Questions
Example:
"What kind of closing opportunities do you
think your people have missed because of the
data-retrieval problem?"
o
The customer's
problems have
o
Get the prospect
to discuss the problem and
how it might be improved
o
o
effects
consequences
implications
Implication Questions
Are strongly linked to success in larger-ticket sales
Are more difficult to phrase than either Situation Questions or Problem
Questions.
A problem can generate many implications. You may have to ask several
of these for each problem
Are essential to moving sales forward
Make the problem seem more acute to the buyer
Help to make the customer (and the seller) aware of hidden
complications or of potential difficulties that may arise if steps are not
taken to remedy the immediate problem.
By definition these questions make the customer uncomfortable? Be
careful not to offend or upset
o
Examples
How will this problem affect your future profitablity?
What effect does the reject rate have on customer satisfaction?
What effect does that have on your output?
You only have three people that can use them. Doesn't that create work
bottlenecks?
It sounds like the difficulty of using these machines may be leading to an
employee turnover problem. Is that right?
What does this turnover mean in terms of training cost?
Could that lead to increased cost?
Could that lead to customer service problems?
Will it slow down your growth?