Help Product Novices & Experts Learn

People who know lots about a product category or know only a little about it usually ask fewer questions than shoppers who know a moderate amount. People with little knowledge say they couldn't think of questions to ask. Those with lots of knowledge believe they already know all they need to know and/or are afraid of looking to anybody who is with them as less than experts.
     Research at Stanford University suggests that when the salesperson expresses a bit of uncertainty in discussing the products, this draws out both the novice and the expert. Beyond this, though, there are important differences in what the two types of shoppers should be learning:

• Studies at University of New South Wales suggest that salespeople overestimate the ability of novices to choose the best product to fit intended use. So ask the customer, “How do you plan to use the product?” and then follow up a few times with, “And how else do you plan to use it?” If the customer responds with “What are the different ways in which it can be used?,” describe two or three common usage situations, but bring it back to “How do you plan to use it?”
• According to Duke University research, a challenge with those considering themselves to be experts is that they too often don’t update their knowledge about the product category. The researchers recommend that salespeople create an incentive for discovering what’s new. Since an incentive for many experts is showing off their knowledge, the salesperson might say to the expert something like, “It is clear that you know a lot about this type of product. May I share with you some of the latest versions we have and ask you what benefits you see that these new products hold for our customers?”