Business owners have big dreams, and accountants and bookkeepers are perfectly positioned to help them achieve those dreams. However, we first have to position ourselves as partners in their success. When we ask the right questions during our sales calls, we can set ourselves apart from our competitors and help our prospects see the value in working with us. Once they are made aware of it, business owners are willing to pay top-dollar for this value.
So far in this series, we’ve looked at questions focused on the prospect’s past and questions focused on the prospect’s present situation. Now, let’s take a look at the most exciting set of questions: questions that focus on designing the future of the prospect’s business.
Designing the future
Future-based questions focus on what the business owner wants - for themselves and for their business. These questions fall into three main categories:
- What the prospect wants to ACHIEVE.
- What the prospect wants to REDUCE.
- What the prospect wants to CREATE.
Unlike the questions that help you understand your prospects’ past or learn more about where they currently are, you only need one question on your sales script for each of these three categories.
Achieve
Start by asking your prospect some variation of the following:
“What would you like your business to achieve (or increase) in the next year?”
Depending on their answer, you can tailor follow-up questions about achieving one or more of the following:
- Profitability
- Revenue growth
- Customers
- Market share
- Cash flow
Take good notes...you’ll want to refer back to them when you create your proposal for the prospect.
Reduce
This is where you ask your prospect:
“What do you want to reduce in your business?” or “What do you want less/fewer of?”
Depending on the answer, follow up with further questions about reducing one or more of the following:
- Costs
- Time and effort (theirs or their team’s)
- Turnover
- Risks
A word of caution: Because we are natural problem solvers, you might be tempted to jump into “fix it” mode at this point. Avoid the temptation to solve the prospect’s problems on the spot. Doing this will give them little incentive to work with you. Try not to fix anything until after they have engaged with you for paid services.
Create
Finally, ask your prospect to share what they want to create in their business:
“What do you want to create (or do) that we can do (or create) together?”
This powerful question positions you as a collaborator and partner instead of a service provider or a commodity. It helps you establish mutual purpose with your prospect, and it helps them see how you are different from your competitors.
Based on the prospect’s answer, follow up with questions about what they want to create in terms of:
- Systems and processes
- Products
- Strategies
- Services
Guiding the prospect to deeper thought
After this series of questions, you will have a good understanding of what sort of future your prospect wants to design. Now you can guide them into deeper thought - and a better understanding of the value you bring - with questions like the following:
- What is your most important priority at the moment? (At this point, the answer probably won’t be to get their books updated or to file their tax return.)
- Do you have a plan to achieve these goals?
- Do you have the systems, people, and capital in place to achieve the future you want for your company?
These questions position you as someone who can help the prospect design the future they want for their company...a valuable proposition.
Bringing it all together
In our next - and final - article in this series, we’ll bring everything together by discussing how to discover what your prospects really want from you and how to offer to partner with them. If you want to jump ahead, check out our “Value Starts With Hello” e-book at www.profitfirstprofessionals.com.
Author Bio: Billie Anne Grigg is the Senior Strategic Guide at Profit First Professionals and the founder of Pocket Protector Bookkeeping. She has more than 20 years of small business bookkeeping and cash management experience. Billie Anne is passionate about elevating the bookkeeping and accounting community so we can help small businesses thrive.