With information gaps identified, you are now ready to plan your meeting(s) with the client. You should try to talk with all key decision makers and stakeholders in the client organization. Each will have his or her own unique perspectives on what defines a successful project.

In planning what questions to ask, consider both (1) how you will ask the question and (2) the general order of questioning. The following are two basic lines of what I call “The Question Progression”:

u Question progression by question type. In their popular book Conceptual Selling, Miller and Heiman outline a general questioning strategy that has proved effective in thousands of customer interviews (see diagram above). They recommend starting with questions that help confirm the accuracy of the information you already have. This also demonstrates that you’ve made some effort to understand the client’s needs.

Next, ask some questions to fill in information gaps. Once a rapport is established, you should carefully pose questions about how the client feels about specific issues, or how he or she perceives things. These help you understand important felt needs, as mentioned earlier. Finally, you want to ask questions that help gage the client’s commitment to act or to continue the relationship.

This question progression follows a natural course of establishing a relationship of increasing trust. This might take place in a single meeting, or over several meetings, depending on how quickly that trust develops.

u Question progression by needs. You should generally proceed from questions about strategic needs to technical needs to personal needs. Strategic needs provide the crucial context for really understanding technical needs. Personal needs should be explored only after you’ve broken ground with more impersonal, objective questions (this is where you ask attitude and commitment questions).

Every meeting with the client is important, so plan it wisely. Take time to consider what information you lack and your questioning strategy for filling the gaps. This relatively small investment of your time will result in a better understanding of your client’s needs and expectations.

3. Conduct the Interview(s)

Interviewing skills are often overlooked in our profession, but can be indispensable in ensuring that you succeed in both sales and project delivery. To excel as an interviewer, pay attention to the following keys:

u Listening. Listen for identification with the client, not just information. Develop the art of empathetic listening.

u Pacing. Watch your pacing, inserting appropriate pauses between questions and responses. Don’t hurry your interview. Give yourself time to process the client’s responses, think of your next question, or allow the client to continue talking (see next point).

u Expanding. Encourage the client to expand on his or her initial responses to your questions by using pauses and verbal cues. It’s amazing how much more information you’ll get from the client if you simply wait a few more seconds after the client finishes speaking before responding or asking your next question. Often the client will expand upon his or her initial response when you remain silent for an additional 4-5 seconds.

u Controlling the tongue. Don’t talk too much—especially early in the sales process. Focus on maintaining the information flow from the client to you, rather than the other way around.

4. Document Your Findings

Now that you’ve collected valuable insights from the client, what do you do with that information? Too often, precious little documentation or sharing of client intelligence is done. This impairs its usefulness to others who are involved in closing the sale, preparing the proposal, or working on the project. With email, computer networks, and contact software, it has never been easier to maximize the value of client data. Don’t misuse this precious resource!