“Most businesses I speak to like yours express concerns over _____. Would you say this is a common or top issue in your day-to-day business?”

You are trying to start the conversation by building common ground. This is a simple, generic question in which you want to ensure you have follow-up questions ready. Some prospects may be close ended on the answer, but some may open up a world of information for you.

“What is the impact on your business when _____ happens?”

Businesses do not want their bottom line impacted negatively. This is where you can look to provide value of how you and your business would help this client when this specific issue happens. You should be asking about an issue that you know you can effectively help provide value for them.structure!

“When you decided to partner with _____ company for this service/product, what factors did you consider when making that decision?”

Now, you are trying to get the prospect to paint you the picture of what it took for them to make a purchase decision or sign on a new partner. You want to know what it is going to potentially take for you to be next. Lastly, a good follow-up question would be when the last time they made a purchase or partnership was.

“What is the typical protocol for you and your counter-parts when _____ happens?”

This is a great open-ended question that helps you understand how and if you would be a valuable fit for the prospect during an issue. Communication is normally floating at the top of the list for many issues. Having a detailed understanding if who is involved and the actions taken allows you to discuss your solution.

“If there was one thing you would change about _____ product/service to help save you time and sleep better at night, what would it be?”

Businesses want to be able to do what they do best. If you can enable them to do that, you are valuable. We all want less stress and more time back in our day. It allows us to operate at the best of our ability and to be able to improve our businesses.

Now, go try them out and build your own!

These positioning questions are intended to be thought-provoking for you to doctor them any which way that will help you learn more about your potential new clients. In addition, it’s important to ask these to clients that you have already partnered with as their business will most likely change over time and retention is crucial.

The more conversations you have involving positioning questions, the stronger your questions become over time as you build more context for the businesses and individuals you speak with. All of this will lead to more clients and potentially ways for you to expand your business in the future.