Excellent Needs Analysis in Pharma and Tech Sales

Discover the secret to mastering client meetings with a needs analysis that closes more deals. In this episode, we dive into why understanding your customer’s true challenges is crucial, share practical tips for asking the right questions, and show you how to turn insights into action. Whether you're a seasoned tech sales pro or new to the game, this episode will help you build trust, uncover real needs, and position your solution as a must-have. Tune in for actionable strategies, real-world examples, and the tools to elevate your sales conversations!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hi everyone, welcome to the Gain Elite Podcast. The show where we dive into the strategies, tips and tricks that help you level up your game in tech and pharma sales and leadership. I'm Georg and today we are tackling a topic that can make or break your client deals and sales. The needs analysis, or as we like to call it, value analysis. So let's imagine you're in a meeting with a promising customer. You know they have the budget, you're all set to pitch your product or service, but as you pitch and the conversation moves along, something feels off. You can see it in their eyes and not quite convinced. In the end, they thank you politely, promise to get back to you, and you leave wondering, what went wrong? Well, chances are you missed a critical step, understanding their real needs and desires. Maybe you pitched a great product, but not necessarily the solution they were looking for. So in this episode, we're going to talk about how to avoid that situation altogether with a rock solid value analysis. By the end of this episode, you'll have a toolkit of practical strategies to ask the right questions, uncover what your customers really want, and ultimately close more deals. As an account or partner manager, you will know how a value analysis can help you build a better relationship with your customers or partners, better understand their requirements and goals, and position yourself as a strategic partner rather than just another supplier. So let's get right into it. So let's start by answering a simple but very important question. Why is a great value analysis so important? A great value analysis is so important because it's the foundation for the whole sales process. Well, especially in the tech and pharma industries, you know, things are very complex. Products and solutions can be very technical andor complex, and many customers aren't even sure what they really need. So their challenges are often more complicated than they realize, and that's exactly where we as sellers come in. A solid value analysis helps you peel back the layers, get to the core of their challenges, and offer solutions that are tailored to their specific situation. So it's really about uncovering their true needs, their desires, their wishes, and also their priorities that they have for working with the supplier and use that as a basis for the whole sales process. Obviously, we have to know what the challenges and desires of our customers are to tailor our solution to these. Only then can we ensure that we really have a high relevance for the customer in our offer presentation. So imagine instead of pushing just a generic pitch, you could say, here's the solution to your exact challenge. That's when customers lean in, not just because they're interested, but because they feel understood. And that's really the key here. An excellent value analysis is the basic for compelling offer presentation or demo. If done right, an excellent value analysis can also help reduce the number of objections that a prospect might bring up during the sales process, because you know exactly what your prospect needs and you tailor your solution exactly to this. So when you get it right, a value analysis can save you time, make your sales process more efficient, and help you build a deeper relationship with your clients. It's the difference between being seen as just another vendor versus a strategic partner. And trust me, you want to be the latter. So, how do you conduct a proper value analysis? Well, it starts before you even walk into that meeting room. Preparation is really key here. So the first step is to do your homework. Research the company. Understand their business model, their products, their customers, any challenges they might be facing. And you can get a lot of this from LinkedIn, company reports, or just industry news. The more you know, the better prepared you are to ask relevant, insightful questions. And that brings us to step two. Think about what information you need to gather. Ask yourself, what do I need to know to make a convincing case for my solution? What's critical for potential negotiation later on? So it really helps to have kind of a mental checklist that will guide you in structuring your questions. Let me share a quick story with you. I was coaching a sales team a while back and they were really struggling with a particular client who kept stalling. So the sales team was certain the client needed a solution, but every meeting ended without proper progress. When we dug into it, we realized the team was pitching features before they truly understood the client's pain points. Once they started to change it and spent more time asking open-ended questions, like for example, what's currently holding your team back from being more efficient? Or what does the current process look like? The client opened up and suddenly there was a clear path forward. Not only did they close the deal, but they also identified opportunities for cross-selling. So the lesson: don't jump into the pitch too early. Let the customer tell you about their challenges, goals, desires, and priorities before you tell them how you can fix it. Now, let's get practical. From my point of view, there are four key areas to cover in the value analysis. The first one is status quo. Find out where your customer is right now. What's working well? What could be improved? What have they done so far? What has changed since you last spoke? This is where you gather the foundation. Area number two, goals and strategy. Try to find out what their goals are. Where do they want to be in the future? What is their overall strategy? Understanding their strategic direction helps you position your solution as a critical part of their overall success. So it's really important to understand both. Their goals and strategies regarding your solution, and their overall goals and strategy. Area number three, plans and risks. Here it's important to find out how they want to reach their goals. What plans do they have? How do they plan to reach those goals? What could go wrong? If you can show them how your solution mitigates these risks, you're already ahead. Knowing their plans and initiatives can help you point out how your solution integrates into these plans and initiatives or even supports them. So it's really important to understand that as well. Area number four, personal preferences and stakeholders. Every client has their preferences about how they like to work. So it's important to ask them. And don't forget other stakeholders. So in this area you can really find out who else needs to be on board for this deal to happen, what's important to them, how can we get them on board. And it can also be helpful to ask your customer what personal goals they have. Maybe you can help them achieve those goals. So once you're in the meeting, it's about well, obviously asking the right questions, but also about asking the questions right. Open-ended questions and active listening are your best friends here. Instead of saying do you need a solution for X? Try what challenges are you facing with X? Open-ended questions make clients feel hurt and they tend to open up more. That's because open-ended questions signal to the prospect's unconscious that we let them in control, that we value them, and that they have complete freedom in answering. It helps us a because we get better answers, and b because neuroscience shows that the prospect's unconscious releases positive emotions that contribute to a positive gut feeling. And as we all know, that positive gut feeling is very important for a successful sale. The same principle applies to active listening. Active listening means acknowledging what the customer is saying, summarizing, and asking follow-up questions if anything's unclear. Simple phrases like it sounds like or if I understand you correctly, that means can work wonders in ensuring you're both on the same page. By listening actively, we signal to the prospect's unconscious that we value them and their input because we listen closely and are able to paraphrase what they have said. This sends positive signals to their subconscious, also contributing to a positive gut feeling. So here's a few more golden rules for asking questions. First of all, keep questions short. Don't overwhelm customers with multi-part questions. If you keep questions short, it's easier for the prospect or customer to follow and to answer them. Have you ever experienced someone asking you a question that was actually four questions and took a minute to ask? Well I certainly did. And if you also experienced that, you probably know that these kinds of questions are very difficult to answer even if you remember all of the individual questions. Point number two is asking positive solution-oriented questions. Focus on where the customer wants to go, not so much on what's going wrong. I know it's sometimes important to figure out a pain point, but once you've identified that, switch to positive. Positive questions that focus on solutions and desires create positive associations that are connected to us and so contribute to positive gut feeling. Talking too much about negative things and challenges creates negative associations on the other hand. Therefore, asking positive, solution-oriented questions is very valuable. Point number three, be structured. Avoid jumping from topic to topic. Address one area fully before moving on. Structured questions make it easier for the customer to follow and they make it also easier for us to make sure that we cover all important aspects that we need. That means we are well advised to avoid topic hopping. Instead, it's better to identify a topic than ask in-depth questions before moving on to the next topic. You can always come back if you feel that you know so there's something missing, or if you get a new information that sheds a new light on information you got before, but in general, stick to a structure. Point number four is pausing. After the customer answers, let there be silence. It might feel awkward in the beginning, but it gives the customer space to think and elaborate on what they've said before. It also helps us to think and consider our next question. At the same time, it signals to our customer subconscious that we value the input and that we consider it before we continue with the next question, which also contributes to a positive gut feeling. And always, please, always keep it customer-centric. Clients feel when you are only asking questions to serve your own agenda. If you keep them and their challenges and goals at the center, it contributes to a positive gut feeling that is so vital for a successful sale. Egocentric questions are a major pitfall that I encounter often in my sales trainings. Really make it about the customer. Let them be the hero. At the end of the conversation, it is very helpful to summarize the key points that you've gathered. That helps us because it's active listening and because it gives the customer a chance to clarify any misunderstandings. It also helps us identify and prioritize the main challenges and desires of the customer so we can tailor a compelling offer afterwards. An example for this could be to make sure we're on the same page, you mentioned that integrating X into your systems is currently your biggest challenge, and that you're looking for a solution that offers Y and Z, right? And then the customer can confirm that, or they can add to it if there's something you didn't get right. Another pitfall that I come across in my trainings often is that participants want to jump into sales too quickly. They often rush to present a solution when they hear a challenge their product can solve or a goal they can help them achieve before truly understand the challenge or goal and the circumstances of the customer. This can make the customer feel like they're hearing a generic pitch rather than receiving tailored advice. Most of the time it also leads to the customer closing up. We often see this in practical exercises in our training where one participant is mimicking the customer and you can really see they lean back, they cross their arms, and their answers become much shorter. It then gets very difficult to open the customer up again in order to get more detailed information. Take the time to fully grasp what the customer needs before moving forward and before starting into the pitch. That's also the reason why we separate the needs analysis from the offer presentation. So before we wrap up, let me leave you with this. A successful value analysis is as much about gathering information as it is about building trust. When a client feels like you truly understand their challenges and aspirations, they're much more likely to see you as a partner rather than just a salesperson. So next time you prepare for a client meeting, take a step back, visualize the conversation, think about the information you need, and remind yourself to listen more than you talk. That's the secret source to a winning value analysis. Alright, so that's a wrap for today. We covered why value analysis is crucial, how to prepare, and some practical tips to make your client meetings more effective. By preparing thoroughly, asking the right questions and actively listening, you can take your sales process to a new level. And remember, a good value analysis both saves you time and also boosts your chances of closing deals and negotiating valuable conditions. Thank you very much, and if you found value in this episode, feel free to share it with a colleague who could use a little extra help in closing deals. And as always, I'd love to hear how these tips work for you. Drop me a message or leave a comment, and let's keep the conversation going. Thanks for tuning in and until next time. Happy selling.