So far, you have not “sold” them anything, all you have done is understand the Situation, established what Problems there are, have been sympathetic to the Impact this is having, and now… Now is the time to let the customer tell you what they Need. Them telling you is much more powerful than you telling them. Once you help your customer uncover his specific needs, you can help him or her to discover a way out by asking how the problem could be resolved.

Some questions you might ask are:

HOWARD: What would help you get the production department off your backs?
CUSTOMER: I need on time delivery. I don’t want to keep chasing for news.
HOWARD: What are your expectations on quote response times?
What do you need?
CUSTOMER: Ideally, quotes within same working day would be brilliant.
HOWARD: What are your expectations around technical support at the design stage?
CUSTOMER: That’s a great question, let me check with our design team and get back to you.

From these answers, where could we go deeper and how?

• Who is your design team leader?
• How would be the best way for me to arrange a face to face-meeting between our technical team and yours?

NARRATOR: Did you notice? Howard tries to get an agreement on the next step! What happens next? Will he HEED the NEED? Don’t miss the next lesson about Demonstrating capability!