When meeting a potential client for an eLearning or blended learning project for the first time, many sales people start with curriculum and scope based questions. This is the wrong focus, becuase it is building in assumptions from the very beginning and may not be in the best interests of the client. It may also mean you miss other opportunities to help the business and win new projects.

A better approach is to ask about what the business is trying to acheive, its vision and mission stuff, its broad strategic plans and so on. Then ask what barriers and opportunities they are currently working on in relation to those plans. Finally you can then explore the connections between the training they think they need and the strategic initiative they believe it addresses.

For example, a client once asked me to quote on an OH&S eLearning module and at the intial meeting, I asked why he wanted this module. The initial response was to help improve safety, however further questioning uncovered that thier insurance premiums would be lowered if all staff were put through some basic safety training. So what appeared to be a need for training, was in fact a business need for cost control. Armed with that information, I was able to develop a lower cost solution leaving budget left over for other things. As that allocation was earmarked for training, I asked if there were areas in their business that actually had poor safety records, ie areas in which accidents did occur. This uncovered the fact that thier drivers who delivered goods had quite a few accidents. We were able to develop a rich, engaging training module on driver safety and as a result reduced the number of accidents caused by their drivers.

So the business need was doubly met, because their worker insurance premiums were lower and now so were their transport insurance claims/premiums. Had I not focused on the business need and stratgy, I would have just created a big long boring mandatory OH&S training package. Perhaps the biggest benefit is that it positioned me as a trusted advisor and differentiated me from competitors. In fact he told me I was the only vendor that explored the business needs at both a strategic and operational level before proposing a solution.

In another instance, an exploration with a potential client uncovered that what was needed was business process rengineering, not training. I was able to refer him to another company Whilst I didnt win any business that day, I did win his trust as a vendor who was trying to meet the business need, not just meet a sales quota.

I believe that engaging with clients at a deeper level and understanding their business both stategically and operationally ultimately is more profitable for you the vendor, because your relationship will last longer and things like contract variations and timeline blowouts are negotiated in a collaborative, not an adversarial way because you have consistently demonstrated that you are there to help them, not to just do a transaction.