How to Ask and Neil Postman - First Post

 I discovered Neil Postman  only recently, thanks to Vagabond Scholar and I was amazed by what he had to say in that brief excerpt about how to ask the right questions the right way. 

Here is one gem:  

The type of words used in a question will determine the type of the words used in the answer

Asking the right questions in a bid is critical. Especially those questions we ask of the Client or Customer. If we ask vaguely, they would answer vaguely. 

If you simply ask 'Are there any interfaces' or 'Is there documentation available' or 'Is round the clock support required' or something like that, you will get a YES/NO answer. 

(Almost) never ask a question which can be answered with a YES / NO.   That is Bid Management 101. 

Now, if you were to ask, 'Provide more details of the interfaces' you will get a standard document or write up that the client readily has, which might or might not have the information you need to make a good proposal with few guesses.


If you do better and ask 'Provide the following information on each interface' and then you specify what you need, a few things happen: 

a) The client sees you think before you ask, that you are specific, and that you are detail oriented.

b) You make the client think about those 4 or 5 elements of information you need e.g. you have perhaps asked for the number of programs using that particular interface and the client realizes he does not know the answer to that important question. Your question may trigger thoughts which could lead to refinement of project scope and clarity of requirements and so on. Of course, you also earn the client's respect for making them think. 

c) The client provides the precise information you really need to put together the proposal. 

d) You often get both the generic write up (which the client would have sent in response to a vague question) and the specific information you asked for so there is more to base your proposal on.

    

Now, you could do one better by asking the question this way: 

'Please provide the following information on each of the interfaces. The information is needed for us to submit a complete proposal for the reasons identified against each item'. 

Then you lay out what you need and why you need it. 

Let us say the RFP is huge and there is a lot of information out there in different documents including some information on those interfaces which you are so keen to pin down. Then, I would go one further and ask, 

'In the RFP (provide document and section and page references for each instance), the following interfaces are listed. For each interface, the following information is already provided in the RFP (refer again in detail). Please provide: 

a) A list of any other interfaces which may exist 

b) For each interface, the following additional information.'

Against each piece of information you need above, you mention why you need it - as before.

Now, the client also sees you have read the RFP thoroughly, taken stock of what is already included, found what is really missing and relevant for making the proposal and then are asking the questions.

You just moved a bit ahead of your competitors.


I shall post more of Postman's insights and how they are applicable to Bid Management in the coming weeks.