A while ago I started writing about a clever sales process that I?ve been taught and wanted to share with you. Click here to read the first part and then read on to find out how to use the next steps in the process.

The next thing to do is to help your prospects to identify their need. Until they really recognise their need, they won?t pay you to fix it!

Benchmark versus actual. Where is your client now? If you?ve established in the first stage of the questioning that your prospect is looking for new clients, you need to know how many clients they have now. If they are looking to cut their costs, you need to know what they are spending now ? the actual. Then you can ask them where they want to be ? how many clients they want, or what they want to be spending ? the benchmark. The difference between the benchmark and the actual is the gap. Helping your prospect to identify the gap ? the number of new clients they need or the amount of money they want to be saving ? will help you sell your solution to them.

Insights. This is where you tell your prospect how you?ve helped one of your clients to solve the exact same problem. Give them a few details on how you fixed the problem and the great results you got.

The Opportunity. Now it?s time for you to ask another commitment question. Asking ?How important is this to you right now?? will help you make sure that your prospect is still really interested in solving their problem and filling the gap that you?ve helped them identify. If they answer ?No? then you might just need to walk away, rather than trying to force the sale.

In part 3 of this blog I?ll share with you some tips on how best to present your solution, based on all that you?ve discovered by working through parts 1 and 2.