What do you do if your clients are not forthcoming with information?

As a technical sales professional, you need to gather information from your clients to understand their needs, challenges, and goals. However, sometimes your clients are not forthcoming with information, either because they are busy, cautious, or unclear. How do you deal with this situation and communicate effectively with your clients? Here are some tips to help you.

1 Build rapport and trust

One of the reasons why your clients may not share information with you is that they do not trust you or feel comfortable with you. To overcome this barrier, you need to build rapport and trust with your clients. This means showing genuine interest in them, listening actively, asking open-ended questions, and providing value. You also need to demonstrate your credibility, expertise, and professionalism by sharing relevant case studies, testimonials, or credentials. By building rapport and trust, you can create a positive and collaborative relationship with your clients and encourage them to open up.

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Nick Buxton

📈 Founder of Committed to Growth - I help founders realise their revenue potential and write about it
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More important than rapport and trust is credibility. Prospects will only truly open up to you if they think you understand their business and position. While rapport and trust demonstrate you're a good person, go a step further and earn the right to have a detailed conversation about their business by demonstrating credibility. Do it right from the start of the call/meeting. Start by building into your introduction personally relevant experience, then use relevant clients that your business has helped achieve what you think the prospect is struggling with - and how.

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2 Use the SPIN method

Clients may not share information with you because they do not see the relevance or benefit of doing so. To persuade them to reveal their situation, problems, implications, and needs, you can use the SPIN method. This structured questioning technique helps uncover pain points, motivations, and desired outcomes. The SPIN method consists of four types of questions: situation questions to establish context and background; problem questions to identify issues; implication questions to explore consequences; and need-payoff questions to elicit needs, goals, or desires. By using the SPIN method, you can help your clients understand the importance of sharing information with you and how your solution can help them achieve their desired results.

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Gry Brøndum

Public Storytelling - Public Affairs - Public Relations
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I try to do it as simple as possible. As a communicator I help my clients crafting value-based stories that can build trust, stakeholder-engagement and brandvalue. In the initial process I often act out and share my own values explicitly: Be openminded, be honest and acknowledge your responsibility as a member of society. These are the basics of trust. Trust is essential to the success of any communication, and if you are trustworthy, you can tell stories, that change the world: My core questions are not that far away from the SPIN method: What is your mission? What are your core values? How do you practise these values? What are your most important goals? And who are challenging and supporting your mission?

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3 Use the BANT framework

Your clients may not share information with you if they are not ready or qualified to buy from you. To assess their readiness and qualification, you can use the BANT framework. This criteria helps you determine if your clients have the budget, authority, need, and timeline to make a purchase decision. The BANT framework involves asking four types of questions: budget questions to understand how much they are willing or able to spend; authority questions to identify who is involved in the buying process; need questions to confirm their needs, goals, or desires; and timeline questions to establish the urgency and priority of their situation. By using the BANT framework, you can help your clients share information that is relevant and essential for moving them forward in the sales cycle.

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4 Follow up and summarize

The last tip to help you deal with clients who are not forthcoming with information is to follow up and summarize. This means that after each interaction with your clients, you should send them a follow-up email or message that summarizes the key points, highlights the value proposition, and proposes the next steps. This way, you can reinforce the information that you have gathered, clarify any misunderstandings, and remind your clients of the benefits and actions. You can also use this opportunity to ask for more information or feedback if needed. By following up and summarizing, you can keep your clients engaged and informed and show them that you are attentive and proactive.

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5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Mark Walker

Co-Founder at RevvedUp.ai | Create Continuously Relevant Content for every prospect | #b2b #saas #revenue #content
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Labelling is a powerful technique here. It means to call out the elephant in the room, which often leads to people opening up. So if they're not being forthcoming, you should say something like 'I don't feel you're in a place you feel comfortable opening up, is that fair to say'? They are then either going to say 'oh no, that's not the case'...and open up; or they'll say 'yes you're right...because' and you can then address their specific concern which should lead to them opening up!

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What do you do if your clients are not forthcoming with information?

1

2

3

4

5

1 Build rapport and trust

2 Use the SPIN method

3 Use the BANT framework

4 Follow up and summarize

5 Here’s what else to consider

Technical Sales

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What do you do if your clients are not forthcoming with information?

1

2

3

4

5

1 Build rapport and trust

2 Use the SPIN method

3 Use the BANT framework

4 Follow up and summarize

5 Here’s what else to consider

Technical Sales

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