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If it had a long enough lever and a place to put the fulcrum, said the Greek mathematician Archimedes, it could move the world. Leverage questions offer that kind of power to sellers. These are open-ended questions designed to uncover the emotional hot button issues that really drive a customer’s purchase decision. What key benefits do buyers want to gain from making the purchase, either for their businesses or, more importantly, for themselves?

In other words, leverage questions are inquiries that allow the seller to find out, from the buyer’s perspective, “What do I really get?” This tells the salesperson what are the most critical needs to address when presenting the features and benefits of the product. What’s more, by clarifying what is at stake in the customer’s mind, leverage questions serve to “increase emotional tension,” making the expected earnings even more desirable for the buyer.

Leverage questions increase pressure by clarifying what is at stake for the buyer, not just the seller.

By asking open-ended questions to investigate a client’s needs, you will come across some needs that seem to have a particular urgency. Whenever you suspect this to be the case, ask a leverage question to confirm your hunch and clarify the situation. Sample leverage questions: “How has this issue affected your business?” “How has it affected you, personally?” “What are the consequences if the problem continues?” “How are your customers affected?” “What opportunities does this situation represent for the company and for you?” Good leverage questions identify the stakes for the buyer’s business, but the best ones aim to uncover the customer’s personal hot spots. Unless the buyer is the owner of the business, increasing productivity or reducing waste are not instinctive problems. Here’s a knee-jerk problem: “How will I be better if I bring this solution to my employer? Will I look like a genius? Will I get a promotion? A bonus? Any recognition I long for?”

By clarifying what is really at stake with a business problem or opportunity, leverage questions increase the customer’s desire for a solution. And they allow the salesperson to know how to present a product as the right solution to the right problems.

In the countryside:

Leverage questions offer the most reward when used in the context of a large-scale sales strategy, a strategy that tells you how to prepare to ask such questions and what to do with the information after you’ve discovered it. That’s what Action Selling sales training workshops teach.

The national director of sales for photocopy retail giant Kinko’s puts it this way: “By learning to sell through the Action Selling sales skills process, our salespeople now know where they are at each stage during a call and can proceed. strategically They are better able to .To handle a sales call from start to finish.