Redefining customer's need.
Sometimes the client tells you his or her need explicitly, either by explaining it in conversation during your sales process or by defining it in the statement of work of the RFP the client issues. The trouble is,Sometimes the client is wrong.
For example, suppose the manager of a telemarketing operation contacts you because she's unhappy with the sales volume her group is producing."We need a course on closing techniques,"she tells you. "can you do that for us?"
Well,you can do it, but after observing the company's salespeople in action, you realize that what they really need is a course on telephone courtesy. These people are so aggressive that they cross the line into rudeness. The best question is, what do you propose?
The best course is to communicate with the potential client, discuss your conerns or your observations, and try to educate and inform the decision makers before you write your proposal. But Sometimes you can't. Sometimes,when you're dealing with a formal RFP released in quantity to many potential vendors, or when you're dealing with a consultant who has written the RFP, or when ego or politics or governmentally mandated procurement rules get in the way, you have to respond to the client's need as it's stated, even if that's not appropriate. And Sometimes you must be sentitive to the client's or consultant's need to save face.

What results are likely to follow from each of my potential recommendations? Make an educated guess, perhaps based on prior experience with other Customer,s, about the probable results of each possible course of action. Will they lead to the client's most important goal? Will they provide competitive advantage? What will they cost? How long will they take? Are cost and timing important issues will they require the client to commit employees to the task?
Choose the best option from the client's point of view, and use that as the basis of your proposal. Even though it can be tough sometimes, try to resist the temptation of recommending the solution that offers you the highest profit margin or the biggest commission check. Manage your proposals and your business for the long term.

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What products, applications, services can I offer that will solve the problem or meet the need?

Usually there are several ways to solve a problem or meet need. Brain storm. Look at all of the approaches as uncritically as possible. At this stage, consider anything. For example, you might be able to meet the needs of a client who is seeking a training? Program by offering a one-day seminar at the client's site. Or you might be able to do it via the Web. Or you might propose developing a computer simulation that can be issued on a CD and reused throughout the organization. Or maybe you could just give the trainees a book to read, followed by a test.
The more creative you can be in combining what you know about the client's needs and goals and what you have to offer, the more likely you are to separate yourself from the pack and develop a truly client-centered solution.

Types of outcomes Clients typically seek

TECHNICAL: Automating *Adding flexibility *Improving quality *Removing process steps. BUSINESS: Improving profitability * Increasing market share * Accelerating growth rate * Reducing cycle time * Leverage data.
SOCIAL
INTERNAL: Morale * Absenteeism * Turnover EXTERNAL: Higher Customer satisfaction * Brand loyalty . Proposal writers often attribute their own values to the Customer. For example, in working with one of the world's largest professional services firms, one said "I found that virtually every proposal contained the same value proposition" "We offer a greater breadth of services than any other firm,"it went. "We can do it all. Nomatter what kind of analysis, implementation, or outsourcing service you may need, we can do it."The problem was, as research into the values of their Customer base revealed, Customers didn't care about breadth of services as a differentiator. What they wanted was much more task specific: Speed of delivery. Risk minimization. Performance guarantees. Relevant prior experience. Introduction of new technologies that improve productivity. Breadth of services was strictly an internal focus, something the partners in this firm were proud of but which had little meaning for Customers. Don't forget to follow my blog, or leave a comment as a blogger to get more back links.

Which goal has the highest priority?

You've identified the client's desired outcomes. Now Which one matters the most? You need to know what's most important to the decision maker for two reasons.
First, you want to present your ideas in the same order that they matter to the reader, because seeing them presented from important to least important will create the impression in that reader's mind that you think the way they do. This is the primacy principle all over again: they assume that what you say first is what is most important to you and an indication of where the proposal as a whole is headed.
Second, you want to know which goal is most important so that you can use it as the bases for developing your value proposition. Presenting an ROI based on improving quality in a production environment may be easy, given the features and functions of the nondestructive test system you sell, but if the Customer is primarily looking for a way to increase market share, it may not be very convincing.

Analyze your personal goals

PERSonaL GOals, finally, include all the outcomes that affect the decision maker's own career, income, or prestige. If the decision maker owns the company, there may not be much difference between personal goals and business goals. But in a typical situation, the decision maker may be looking for an opportunity to be a hero, to climb the corporate ladder, or simply to avoid making a career-damaging mistake. As we noted above, the most defensible goals are those that are organizational in nature, so be wary of making somebody's personal agenda the basis for your proposal.

Social goals

Social Goals can be directed either internally or externally. Internal Social goals might involve enhancing employee morale, reducing turnover, increasing the Professionalism of the company's sales representatives, raising awareness among all employees on issues of diversity, and so forth. External Social goals may focus on relationships with Customers or on relationships with suppliers. For Example, a company may want to increase brand recognition, change consumer attitudes, reduce the number of calls to Customer support, increase the company's share of the Customer's total spending, or capture a greater share of existing markets, among other Customer-focused goals. Social goals involving supplier might include supplier certification, integration of data systems, or development of long-term contracts.

Technical Goals

Technical goals typically adress problems in the infrastructure. For example,a Technical goal might be to automate a labor-intensive process, to provide greater flexibility or modularity in system design, or to enhance quality through the use of automated inspection technology. Our I.T.manager who wants the solution to be microsoft compatible is looking for a technical outcome. Do you know much about microsoft appliances? Well, it's possible of course, that a "technical" goal may have nothing to do with technology. Instead, it might involve implementing quality management methodologies or achieving standards of compliance. For example, a factory might need to reduce emissions of volatile nitrous oxides in order to meet regulatory standards. How they achieve compliance may not matter to them, so long as they can avoid having their plant shut down and fined.

Replace the concept of Business goals with mission objectives

BUSINESS GOALS might include such issues as increasing market share,increasing net profitability, reducing overhead, Creating differentiation in the market place, or reducing unit cost of manufacturing of appliances and other things. Business goals can often be translated into financial measures, although not always. If you are proposing to a government agency, replace the concept of business goals with mission objectives. Most government agencies or departments have a clearly defined mission, and your recommendations should be focused on helping them achieve that mission faster, safer, more completely, or more economically.