Qualifying Customers: Dollars vs. Hours, Work vs. Risk
Confirmation Questions: Validate your data or reveal inaccuracies in what you thought was true.
- Where did the customer find out about JMP®? What activity drove the customer’s interest?
- What’s the business application and value to the company?
- Will the customer be using the software only for data analysis and problem solving in the customer’s company or will the customer be providing a service for a third party?
- Has the customer ever purchased software like this before?
- Has he or she ever walked through a deal like this?
- Can we address the customer’s business pains?
New Information Questions: These force you to listen and accept the reality of current data; help you clarify the customer’s concept and desired business results.
- What’s the compelling trigger event? (Something in the buyer’s world that prompted a look for a change.)
- Is this a competitive situation?
- What is the evaluation process on the customer’s end?
- Is the customer replacing some product or augmenting other products?
- Is this a new MLA? Is this a new supplement?
- What is the current SAS® footprint at the organization?
- Will it be a nonstandard deal for JMP or SAS (terms, multiyear, pricing after initial year)?
- Is IT involved yet? If not, when and how will it be involved?
Attitude Questions: Identify the customer’s personal needs, values, and attitudes.
- Who makes the purchasing decisions?
- What are his or her business goals?
- Is the person you are talking to just a groupie, job-seeker or tire kicker?
- Are the prospective JMP users primary investigators with baseline statistical knowledge and the business need to analyze data?
Commitment Questions: Help you locate your current position in the sale by identifying what action the customer is willing to take to move the process forward.
- What’s the justification of the purchasing timetable? What is the sense of urgency?
- What’s the cost of doing nothing, or maintaining the status quo?
- Is the customer ready to buy? (Helps to determine priority for meetings, on-site demos, etc.)
Basic Issue Questions: Specialized commitment questions that help you identify customer concerns that could result in the loss of the sale.
- Is there a budget in place? Is it enough?
- If not, can the buyer get funding? What level of approval will this funding need?
- Who will sign for the customer? Does the customer (and do we) have access to this person/group?
- Does the prospective user base know statistics and is there sufficient education within the company to deploy a product like JMP?
- Where are the prospective users based? Which states? Which countries? Is the deal really federal government?
- Has the customer contacted the other states or countries yet? (Have you checked SFDC for SSOs?)
All information is SAS company confidential. Do not disclose.
