{"id":141444,"date":"2025-02-16T15:23:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T19:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=141444"},"modified":"2025-02-19T16:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T20:11:20","slug":"how-to-know-your-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-know-your-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Know Your Customer: 3 Tips for Uncovering Their Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you struggling to close deals despite having great products or services? What if understanding your customer<\/a> better could dramatically improve your sales success<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Gap Selling<\/em>, Keenan emphasizes how to know your customer’s true needs and motivations. His methodology focuses on three crucial goals: becoming an expert<\/a> in your customer’s business, uncovering their genuine objectives, and identifying the root causes of their challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discover how to build stronger, more profitable customer<\/a> relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Discovering Your Customer\u2019s Gap<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Keenan, learning how to know your customer\u2014the process of asking questions to learn about your prospective customer\u2019s gap\u2014is the most important part of the sales process.<\/strong> He encourages you to think of discovery not as a single stage that you complete once and are done with, but as an ongoing process that can continue throughout the sale, so long as you\u2019re talking to your customer and getting to know more about them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Sales experts suggest that conducting deep research on your client may not be suited to every type of sale<\/a>. Because the time and effort spent on research comes at the opportunity cost<\/a> of potentially pursuing other leads and other sales activities, experts recommend approaches like Keenan\u2019s for situations where the customer has an especially complex problem<\/a> that requires a tailored solution, or if the salesperson has a wide range of products and services that serve a variety of functions.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He provides three goals for understanding your customer\u2019s gap during an effective discovery: become an expert<\/a> in your customer\u2019s business; reveal your customer\u2019s true goals; and reveal underlying causes of your customer\u2019s issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Become An Expert In Your Customer\u2019s Business<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Keenan argues that an effective salesperson must become an expert in their customer\u2019s business. <\/strong>He advocates continuously asking \u201cwhy\u201d questions and following up to dig deeper into their business model, practices, and current situation. This will help you learn as much as you can about your customer\u2019s gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: As a counterpoint, some experts caution against asking \u201cwhy\u201d questions, as these can sometimes come across as accusatory or presuming a correct solution<\/a>. For example, if you say, \u201cWhy are you doing X instead of just doing Y?\u201d this may sound like you think you know more about your client\u2019s business than they do\u2014and this perceived insult could shut down conversation. Instead, they recommend asking \u201cwhat\u201d and \u201chow\u201d questions, like \u201cHow do you achieve X?\u201d or \u201cWhat do you do about Y?\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Reveal Your Customer\u2019s True Goals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Keenan emphasizes the importance of understanding a customer\u2019s underlying motivations when making a sale<\/a>. <\/strong>Your customer may present a clear short-term goal, but that\u2019s only part of the picture. To truly assess the gap and the value your solution can provide, ask questions about the company\u2019s long-term goals as well, such as about why a particular short-term goal is important, and how it fits into the company\u2019s broader strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, a manufacturing company expresses interest in buying new inventory management<\/a> software. On the surface, their goal seems straightforward: to streamline their stock control process. However, by digging deeper and asking strategic questions, you reveal that this goal is part of a larger initiative to reduce operational costs by 20% over the next three years, in preparation for expanding into new markets. A more comprehensive software package would serve their inventory management needs as well as their overall efficiency goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: According to sales experts, asking lots of probing questions about your client’s goals could backfire and come across as pushy or nosy if you haven\u2019t first built trust with your client<\/a>. To build trust, they recommend preparing productive questions ahead of discussions, being transparent about what your company can and can\u2019t accomplish, and communicating your desire to collaborate and cooperate throughout<\/a>. Sales experts also recommend building trust and rapport through active listening<\/a>: Pay attention to the person speaking and maintain eye contact; summarize their statements in your own words; and express empathy<\/a> for the problems they\u2019re dealing with.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Reveal the Underlying Causes of Your Customer\u2019s Issue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Keenan suggests that it may not be enough to take your customer\u2019s word at face value when they explain their issue. He encourages you to ask questions that may reveal the underlying causes.<\/strong> By addressing these causes, you can offer a more comprehensive and impactful solution. This not only benefits your customer, but increases the value of your offering and the potential size of the sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, a manufacturing company approaches a sales representative complaining of frequent production delays and seeking a more advanced scheduling system. By asking detailed questions, the sales representative discovers that the delays are due to a combination<\/em> of factors: outdated machinery, inconsistent supplier deliveries, and high employee turnover. Instead of simply selling them a new scheduling system, the salesperson can now propose a broader holistic solution with products to address all of these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Identify Root Causes<\/strong>

Business experts clarify how you might identify underlying causes, using root cause analysis (RCA)<\/a>. Here we\u2019ll look at two different methods.

First, some experts recommend that you start with the problem and work backward using a technique called \u201cthe five whys<\/a>.\u201d<\/strong> This method involves first clearly defining the problem, then asking \u201cWhy did this happen?\u201d to identify the most obvious and direct cause. Then you ask “why?” again to identify the second direct cause behind the first, and repeat for five iterations until you uncover the deeper root cause of the problem. The biggest advantage of this method is its simplicity. You can often get to a root cause quickly without having to invest significant time and resources. However, the simplicity can also lead you to overlook contributing factors.

Others recommend a method called the fishbone diagram<\/strong> (aka Ishikawa, or the cause-and-effect diagram). In this method you start with an event, but then identify potential contributing factors by thoroughly considering six possible areas: equipment, materials, techniques, natural forces, metrics, and labor power. This technique has the advantage of leaving no stone unturned, but it can take more time and resources to fully account for each of the six factors. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you struggling to close deals despite having great products or services? What if understanding your customer better could dramatically improve your sales success? In Gap Selling, Keenan emphasizes how to know your customer’s true needs and motivations. His methodology focuses on three crucial goals: becoming an expert in your customer’s business, uncovering their genuine objectives, and identifying the root causes of their challenges. Discover how to build stronger, more profitable customer relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":141607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,103,30],"tags":[1745],"class_list":["post-141444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-sales","category-work","tag-gap-selling","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Know Your Customer: 3 Tips for Uncovering Their Needs - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you want to uncover what makes your customers tick? 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