Identifying a need means determining what exactly a potential client wants to receive. It is important for a business to obtain as much detailed information about a person’s need as possible: what exactly they need, in what volume, at what price, when, where, and so on.
Along with this term, another one is used - "customer pain". Pain is an obstacle that prevents a person from satisfying his need. For example, he wants to buy a car, but inexpensive models do not suit him in terms of quality, and expensive ones do not fit into the family budget. The pain here is the lack of the necessary amount of money and the insufficient quality of budget cars.
Much literature has been written about needs. The classic scheme is considered to be the pyramid of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow, which his followers visualized based on his ideas.
Maslow's pyramid
The simplified pyramid is based on 5 hierarchical levels. If the lower ones are not satisfied afghanistan phone number resource the upper ones are less pronounced or absent.
In fact, any need arises as a result of a need for something. Need is most often associated with some problem that has arisen or may arise in the future.
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In the sales funnel, the stage of identifying needs is between the stage of customer qualification and the moment of presentation of the product or service.
Types of needs
According to the decision-making criteria, rational and emotional needs can be distinguished.
Let's assume that when choosing a school backpack for a primary school student, parents will consider its functionality, quality of materials and tailoring, hypoallergenicity, and impact on posture. When choosing notebooks, a child will be interested in completely different characteristics: visual design, favorite characters on the cover.
Based on the reasons for their emergence, it is worth noting internal and external needs. For example, purchasing a car. For one client, the issue of safety will be important - an internal need, and for another - prestige, image, status.
It also makes sense to mention the category of related needs that arise as a result of satisfying others. For example, after purchasing a car, there is a need to pay for parking, insurance, and maintenance.
Types of needs
Basic types of needs:
Safety;
Belonging to a certain group of people;
Comfort;
Reliability;
Novelty.
Latent and manifest needs
Needs are also divided into two other types: obvious and hidden. The obvious needs of the client are when he knows what he specifically needs and is aware of the need for satisfaction. A hidden need is exactly the opposite. The consumer may not be aware of the need until he is offered a specific product or service. Or he learns about an alternative that is much better. Then the hidden need of the client flows into an obvious one, and this takes time.
It is generally accepted that it is better to work with an obvious need from a sales perspective. Because it is quite difficult to guess what a person actually needs. However, both needs motivate the client to make a purchase.
Stages of need formation
As has already been said above, the need most often does not manifest itself immediately, but is transformed, passing through three stages:
First it is born;
It becomes realized, moving into the stage of hidden need;
And only then does it become an obvious need.
For example, when launching an online store, the owners may not be bothered by anything, although the outflow of visitors is significant. After some time, they will begin to notice it in the Google Analytics account . As a result, they will come to the conclusion that they need advanced analytics tools and a loyalty program.
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Most companies try to work with clients who already have clear needs. As a result, they face fierce competition and dumping.
It is much more profitable to influence the process of transformation of needs by helping in their formation.
The highest level of marketing and sales is creating needs that have not even begun to emerge and bringing them to purchase.
Why is it necessary to identify needs?
Identifying needs
This is one of the most important stages of sales, allowing you to study the client’s deep motives and values, understand his worldview and identify the most important criteria for decision-making.
Identifying needs allows you to show empathy and establish a trusting relationship with the client, who will feel cared for.
The information obtained allows us to select and offer the consumer the most suitable product and correctly present its properties that truly represent value.
This data also helps to select the right and weighty arguments at the stage of processing objections.
It is important to understand that a sale occurs under the condition that not only all needs are identified, but also amplified to such a level that the totality of problems and their significance significantly exceeds the cost of the product.
When the stages of client qualification and identification of their needs are carried out correctly, the chances of closing the deal are very high in most cases. Therefore, identifying needs in this case is a necessary and important process, without which it is difficult to imagine effective sales.
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How to identify needs
It is worth noting right away that the process of identifying needs in the B2C segment, as a rule, differs significantly from B2B and B2G.
In the first case, the volume of transactional sales is high, where the needs are obvious. But the main difference is in the number of people making decisions or influencing the process.
A private client's decision is influenced by a small circle of close people. And in the B2B and B2G segments, this can be a large number of employees and departments with completely different motivations and decision-making criteria.
In fact, the process of identifying needs consists of analytics, questions and receiving feedback.
Stages of needs identification
It is a common misconception that needs are identified during the sales process. In fact, this issue should be very seriously considered before the product or procurement process begins.
Marketing research
First of all, it is necessary to find out what specific needs the target audience has.
That is why it is extremely important to conduct the necessary marketing research. It is more rational to produce something that will definitely be bought, rather than sell something that was produced without proper study of the needs of the target audience.
Marketing communications
In the process of advertising communications, you can also receive the necessary information. Starting from the advertising preferences of potential clients, to their segmentation: surveys, voting, quiz mechanics, and receiving feedback.
Sale
At the stage of lead processing and further sales, there are the following stages of identifying needs:
Observation : helps to qualify the client and understand his needs in general terms, after which it is much easier to start a more substantive dialogue.
Establishing contact : verbal and non-verbal communication - smiling, eye contact, friendly tone.
Questions : one of the main and most important stages.
Active listening : helps to obtain the necessary information and build trust - eye contact, “mirroring”, repeating part of what the client said, voicing conclusions.
Summarizing : summing up the results. For example, waiters often list the dishes ordered to make sure the records are correct, and the customer may order something extra or refuse unnecessary items.
In B2B and B2G sales with a long transaction cycle, it is recommended to establish constant communication with decision makers to gradually identify needs and convert hidden ones into obvious ones. In this case, regular “warming up” through useful relevant content and receiving feedback helps a lot.
Types of questions in sales
Questions are one of the most effective ways to find out motivation and push for purchase. Therefore, let's analyze questions to identify the client's needs.
Open Questions in Sales
When you ask an open question, you expect to hear a detailed answer. It is difficult to answer it with just "yes" or "no". That is, the needs of buyers are revealed through "How...?", "Why...?", "When...?", "Why...?" and so on.
Closed questions
With the help of closed questions you will get a clear answer: "yes" or "no". They also serve as a basis for continuing the dialogue and open questions.
Alternative questions
Alternative questions reveal the client's needs by offering him or her multiple answer options.
Examples of questions to identify customer needs by their types:
Why did you choose our service?
Are you satisfied with the work and functionality of our service?
Is prepayment more important to you or payment based on the actual resources of our service used?
Combine these questions to get as much information as possible to identify the client's needs. Based on the answers, build further dialogue and work through objections. Use these questions in special techniques. Let's look at them in more detail.
