010: How to change a prospects mind from Maybe to Yes

Read time: 4 min

Today, I am going to share a three-step process that our clients use to persuade prospects without them even realizing it.

No, this isn’t jedi mind tricks. Well… Sort of.

It’s about asking a series of specific questions to lead the prospect down a path to help persuade them to believe that your product is the right solution to their problem(s).

Where I see founders fail with this technique is in the execution, and in the order of questions they ask. In this issue I’ll discuss how to account for both.

Your goal should be to never lose a deal that is closeable.

As discussed numerous times, the goal of a discovery call is to identify BANT. The Needs section of BANT is by far the most important.

 Why?

Because if the needs are great enough, they will loop in all the stakeholders, they will find the budget and the timing will be immediate.

The question is, “How do we make the needs great enough?”

It’s done through a cadence that we call the “Triple III Selling Framework.”

Let’s unpack it!

Triple III Selling Framework

I - Identify Pain

I - Imply Consequences

I - Imagine problem solved

Identifying Pain

Identifying Pain is understanding where the the source of the prospect’s pain is coming from. It is the "needs" part of BANT. If you want to understand whether your product can help or not, you must first identify if there’s a use case to do so.

An example question to accomplish this would look like the following:

"I'd love to better understand how you're currently doing ___________ and where you see the greatest need for improvement are?"

This is a question that helps identify pain. It forces the prospect to divulge information, and provide additional context that you can unpack further.

Identifying Pain questions begin with these phrases:

• Can you help me better understand how __________?

• How do you think about ___________?

• When you say _________, how do you define that?

• You mentioned __________, I’d love to zoom in on that and understand how you _________?

Implying Consequences

Implying Consequences is about understanding the impact the pain they’re experiencing is having on their org. It’s what I call, “rubbing salt in the wound.”

An example question to accomplish this would look like the following:

“How long has this been a problem; and what type of impact has this had on the org overall?”

“Why do you feel like now is the right time to address this problem - was there a specific catalyst?”

This style of question is prompting the prospect to imply consequences as a result of the pain points they’re struggling with. The idea here is to have them convey how broken their current system is.

Implying Consequences questions begin with these phrases:

• What type of impact has this had on ___________?

• How long have you been aware this has been a problem?

• Why do you feel now is the right time to solve these __________?

• What’s taken you guys so long to address the problems you just shared with me?

• If this continues to go unchecked what type of impact would that have on the ________?

Imagining The Problem Solved

Imagining The Problem Solved is having the prospect sell themselves on why your solution is something they need. It’s life before your product (current situation), and life with your product (desired situation).

An example question to accomplish this would look like the following:

“If we were able to solve the use cases you conveyed with our tech, what type of impact would that have on your team and the org?”

You can clearly see here how with this style of question the prospect is forced to share how your solution can help. They are closing themselves on how much better life would be with your solution.

Imagining the problem solved begins with these phrases:

• What type of impact would this have if we were able to ________?

• Where do you see our tech having the biggest lift for your team?

• If you were to achieve your ideal situation, how would that positively impact the team?

• Can you picture yourself overcoming the current challenges and removing all the friction in the process? What would that look like? 

Key Takeaways

• Identify pain.

• Imply consequences.

• Imagine the problem solved.

Use this 3 step process when asking questions during the needs section of BANT.

That’s it for today folks.

See you all next week!

Darren

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more you can book a call with me here.