You will be able to find out whether a buyer has a reason to act now or is only curious.
Some meetings go perfectly. The buyer is open, the problem is real, you put a number on it together, and they nod along to everything. Then nothing happens. They do not reply to your summary, or they reply warmly and say they will get back to you after the quarter. Three months later they are still thinking about it.
Often the missing piece was urgency. The buyer had a real problem and no reason to fix it now rather than later. This lesson shows you how to find out, in the meeting, whether that reason exists.
Urgency is a reason the buyer has to act by a certain time. It comes from three places: a deadline, an event, or a cost that is growing.
A deadline is a date that forces a decision. A contract runs out, a licence expires, a financial year closes, a policy needs renewing. An event is something that changes the situation: a new outlet opening, a baby on the way, an experienced staff member leaving, a merger, a move. A growing cost is a problem that gets worse the longer it runs, such as errors piling up, a backlog growing, or a gap in savings that gets harder to close each year.
Notice what is not on that list: your offer. A discount that ends Friday is a reason for you to want a decision by Friday. It is not a reason for the buyer to change anything, and buyers can tell the difference. Urgency that comes from the buyer's own situation lasts. Urgency you manufacture lasts until the discount ends.
The single most useful urgency question is about timing. "What made you take this meeting now, rather than six months ago?"
People almost always have an answer, even if they did not realise it. Something changed. Joel, the cafe owner, says, "My accountant gave me a deadline. She needs clean records by the end of March or she'll charge extra for the year." That is a deadline. Rachel, the operations manager from module 3, says, "We're adding a night shift in a couple of months and I can't imagine doing overtime by hand for that." That is an event, and a growing cost.
Sometimes the answer is vaguer: "I've just been meaning to look into it." That tells you something too. Follow it gently: "What made it rise to the top of the list this month?" Often there is a trigger underneath, a conversation with a friend, a bad week, a near miss.
The second question looks forward. "If nothing changes over the next year, what happens?"
Then let them answer fully. Do not help. The silence after this question is often where the most honest answer arrives, and lesson 6.2, Use silence instead of filling it, explains why.
Wei Ling, the adviser from module 2, asks Marcus and Jia Hui this question. Marcus starts with "probably nothing much." Then Jia Hui adds, "We'd be another year older with nothing saved, and we want to try for a baby next year." Marcus goes quiet. The couple had never said that out loud together.
This question works because it makes the buyer picture the cost of standing still, using their own facts. If the answer is serious, the urgency is real. If the answer is "probably nothing much," and it stays that way after a pause, you have learned that too.
No urgency is useful information. It tells you to nurture the buyer rather than push.
Pushing a buyer with no reason to act now rarely works. At best they agree to a proposal they never act on. At worst they feel pressured and stop replying. Either way you spend hours on a deal that will not close this quarter.
Nurturing means staying useful without asking for a decision. Agree a sensible time to check in, ideally tied to something in their world: "You said the lease is up next year. Shall I get in touch around September, before you start looking at options?" Send something helpful in between if you have it. Sales foundations lesson 6.3, Knowing when to stop and how to leave the door open, covers the follow-up side of this.
Then move your time to buyers who do have a reason to act. Lesson 7.2, Disqualify early and say so kindly, takes this further.
Sometimes you can see a deadline the buyer has not mentioned. A parent whose child starts university in three years. A business whose main contract is up for renewal. It is fair to raise it as a question, not a claim: "You mentioned your daughter is in secondary three. Has the university fund come up in your conversations yet?"
If they take it up, it is their urgency now. If they do not, leave it, and note it for later.
Before the activity, think back to your last two or three meetings that stalled after a good first conversation, and ask yourself whether you ever found out why the buyer wanted to act now.
Write the two urgency questions you will ask in every discovery meeting and decide what you will do when the answer shows no urgency.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).