If you have ever attended a formal sales training course then you know that selling is not about telling. Selling is about asking the right questions to the right people, in the right way and at the right time. By doing this you find out what the real need is and can then pitch your sales presentation to meet that need.

Thus, before you can start selling, you need information about your potential customer. You need to understand the current structure in their company, possible problems etc. You also need to identify their motives, attitudes, and personal objectives.

Only after you have obtained this information can you adapt your sales presentation to make it effective.

To get the information you need you must ask targeted questions, i.e. ask your prospect questions that have been tailored. When preparing for your client meeting consider the following:

In the corporate hierarchy, what level is your prospect?
What is their job role and responsibilities?
What interests them? What might they want to know?
What decision will they make? What criteria will this decision be based on?
What do they uniquely know?
If your prospect does not want to or is unable to give you answers, from whom can you get them?
What questions enhance their status?
What questions prove to the prospect your competence?
Which corporate objectives are they following?
What are their personal needs, hopes and expectations?

When you have obtained a profile of your prospect, put together the questions you want to personally ask them. Set out below are some example questions for the analysis of requirements. These need to be completed with information specific to each individual case.

Think about these requirement questions if you are presenting to the Managing Director or Chairman:

How does the organisation see itself?
What is the organisation mission statement, corporate philosophy and corporate model?
What key objectives are you pursuing, in particular what medium and long term corporate objectives?
What is the corporate policy?
To achieve your goals, what strategies are you using?
What visions are you striving towards (led by)?
What unique strengths characterise your company?
What are your company weaknesses?
What improvements need to be made?
What are your company and management guidelines?
What type of Management Information System do you use?
How current and qualified is the data you have?
What investment plans / planned projects are there?
In what ways is the company developing?
What indices best measure the company’s current position?
What action plans are you following?
How good is your market position / positioning?
What are the trends in the way other areas of business are developing?
In terms of your competitors, what are their strengths, strategies, weaknesses?
Have you any dependencies on suppliers, customers, business partners?
How well does the management team cooperate?
How are relations between management and staff?
Are there any available corporate analyses and external advisers that could offer important inputs?
What are advertising slogans do you use?
What marketing concept do you follow?

Think about asking these questions if you are presenting to the Departmental Managers:

What does the project / system achieve or be capable of?
How much input do you have with the project?
What are your personal objectives for the project?
What does the project most depend on?
Who makes the key decisions?
How many external consultants work with you/your staff?
What level of experience do users have of data processing?
What sales training and other relevant qualifications do they have?
What are your key service requirements?
How has the department been performing so far?
What is the organisational structure?
How many people are affected, and from when?
How are they to be developed or trained?
What will the introduction of the project/system mean for the users?
To what extent do others need to approve this investment decision?
What does the Managing Director or Chairman think of it?
What is the best way of winning the management team over to your objectives and plans?

These questions are useful if you are presenting to the Purchasing Manager:

What demands or expectations do departments / users have of you?
What demands are the management team making of you?
How big is the budget for the project?
When do you expect to be invoiced?
What are the contractual requirements that we must meet?
What are the payment conditions?
Do you want any guarantees, securities?
Are there any insurance conditions?
Do you wish to have a formal contract?
Do you want a company license, network license, database license?
What criteria will your work be evaluated by?
What are your personal objectives?
What are your expectations?
What can I do to help you get approval for the required budget?

Attending a sales training course can help you learn how to formulate good questions and how to respond appropriately to the answers you get.

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