Daily Business Thoughts - Powering your Business Intelligence

9 Important Questions to Ask a Potential Client - What are the most important questions to ask a potential client?

需要向潜在客户提问的9个重要问题 - 你需要向客户提问的最重要的问题是什么？

1. What Do and Don’t You Need?

你需要或者不需要什么？

Clients may not always know what is best for them, but it’s still your job to ask what they need. Rather than making assumptions, ask potential clients to outline their pain points. What do you want and expect from us? Equally important, What don’t you need? Use this feedback to customize your offerings accordingly — or take a pass. Every potential client is not necessarily a good fit.

客户可能并不总是知道什么产品/服务最适合他们，但询问他们需要什么仍然是你的工作。与其做假设，不如让潜在客户概述他们的痛点。你想从我们这里得到什么？同样重要的是，你不需要什么？使用此反馈来相应地定制您的产品 - 或排除他们不需要的部分。每一个潜在客户并不一定都是非常匹配的客户。

2. What Problems Are You Facing?

你正在面对哪些问题？

We are often approached by clients who have a specific goal in mind. However, the first thing to always ask clients is, What problems are you facing? Only then will we know if they actually do need something, because those are just options out of many of more successful routes.

联系我们的客户通常已经有了特定的所需产品/服务目标。然而，我们需要总是问客户的第一件事是，你面临什么问题？只有这样，我们才能知道他们是否真的需要什么，因为这些只是许多更成功的路线中的选择。

3. Who Are the Decision-Makers, and What is the Approval Process?

谁是相关项目的决策者，他们的批准流程是什么样的？

Entrepreneurs often launch into a sales pitch before they’ve even properly qualified a potential client. Determine if you’re speaking to and working with the right decision-makers and understand the entire process for approval on a deal or project. If you forget to ask those critical questions early on, you may find yourself having to start all over with a new stakeholder.

企业家们常常在他们还没有对潜在客户进行适当的资格鉴定之前就开始推销自己的产品。确定你是否在与正确的决策者交谈和合作，并了解交易或项目批准的整个过程。如果你忘了早点问那些关键问题，你可能会发现你不得不从一个新的利益相关者重新开始。

4. What Are Your Expectations?

你的期望是什么？

Continually keep track of a client’s expectations throughout the course of the project. If scope and expectations change, so should the contract. Discuss openly at the start of the project any risks of failure, budget overrun or consequences if things go wrong. Running through these what-if scenarios now will set the tone for honest discussions further down the road.

在整个项目过程中持续跟踪客户的期望。如果范围和期望发生变化，那么合同也应该发生变化。在项目开始时公开讨论任何失败的风险、预算超支或事情出错的后果。通过这些假设情景，现在将为更深入的诚实讨论定下基调。

5. What is Your Budget, and When Do You Want to Start?

你的预算是什么，你计划什么时候开始这个项目？

The most pertinent pieces of information we can obtain from our customers are: Overall budget and projected starting date of the project. Knowing their budgets allows us to determine the correct line to push, and knowing the starting date of the project allows us to accurately prioritize projects.

我们可以从客户那里获得的最相关的信息是：项目的总体预算和项目开始日期。了解他们的预算可以让我们确定要推动的正确路线，了解项目的开始日期可以让我们准确地确定项目的优先级。

6. What Would You View as a Success?

项目进展到什么状态你会觉得是成功的合作？

What would you see as a success in working with us? How can we over-deliver so you’ll want to refer everyone you know? Asking these two questions helps us serve our clients better and ensure they will be happy with the work we produce.

你认为与我们合作的成功是什么？我们怎样才能超出你的满意预期，让你把你认识的人都介绍给我们？提出这两个问题有助于我们更好地为客户服务，确保他们对我们的工作感到满意。

7. What’s the Next Step and by When?

下一步是什么以及什么时候发生？

With a potential client, always close with What’s the next step and by when? The next step of interest could either be setting up a phone call or maybe just asking for a reply. Either way, set the expectation. Never leave an outreach effort open-ended, but rather have an action in mind that you would like your prospect to take, and always try to set a commitment.

对于潜在客户，总是在每次会议谈判结束前询问下一步是什么以及什么时候发生？下一步可能是打个电话，也可能只是要求回复。不管怎样，我们都需要设定下一步行动期望。永远不要让讨论有一个开放式的结尾/结束，这样只会浪费你的努力，而是要有一个你希望你的潜在客户采取的下一步行动，并始终努力设定一个双方共同遵守的承诺。

8. Is There a Need, and Is it a Match?

客户是否对我们的产品/服务有需求，我们能否匹配这种需求？

You need to find out two things before working with a potential client: Is there a need for our product/service? If yes: Are they a good match for our company? Without both, it’s difficult to achieve a long-term relationship.

在与潜在客户合作之前，您需要了解两件事：我们的产品/服务客户是否存在需求？如果是：那么这些需求与我们公司很相配吗？没有这两者，很难实现长期关系。

9. How Can I Help You Do Your Job Better?

我们如何能协助你把你的工作做地更好？

How can I help you? and What else can I do? are two questions you should always ask your client. They want to work with you because they need your services/support and hopefully like you enough to share their business ideas and vision with you. Your goal is to help them do their jobs better.

我该怎么帮你？我还能做什么？有两个问题你应该经常问你的客户。他们想与你合作，因为他们需要你的服务/支持，希望他们能够分享他们的商业理念和愿景给你。你的目标是帮助他们把工作做得更好。

比恩锡BMC Partnership公司版权所有©️2022年。未经许可，不得做任何形式的转载和出版。

BM Consulting (Shanghai) is a joint venture British-Chinese business services and training consultancy, established 2018 in Shanghai, China. Our team has decades of combined international business experience. We now partner with clients throughout China and internationally (English and Chinese services); specialising in the following areas: Business Training, Business Coaching, Market R&D Consulting, Education Consulting

We have trained in avariety of industries including technology, new eneragy, human resources, retail, medical, consulting, electronics, service trades. Our training experiences in China: Sungrow, Value Retail China, JinkoSolar, Analogic, Smiths Medical, RedE, BASi, SIPCAM CHINA, ASIAN TIGERS, Jabra and so on.

BM Consulting Partnership (Shanghai)是一家中英合资企业，于2018年在中国上海成立。我们的团队拥有数十年的综合国际业务经验。我们现在与中国和国际客户合作（英语和中文服务）；专注于以下领域：业务培训、业务辅导、市场研发咨询、教育咨询.

我们的培训经历涉及科技、新能源、人力资源、零售、医疗、咨询、电子、服务贸易、金融、装备制造、汽车等多个行业。在中国的最近培训经历包括阳光能源、Value Retail China、晶科能源、安络杰医疗器械、史密斯医疗、新利得塑胶、巴斯乙翻译、世科姆（中国）、ASIAN TIGERS、捷波朗、Gestamp、ElringKlinger、Alimak等数十家跨国企业和上市公司

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