Subscriber Discussion

Should I Ask Customers A Lot Of Questions?

KV
Ken Volk
May 26, 2015
IPVMU Certified

With working for a Security company I have found that you need to ask alot of questions on what the customer wants to achieve. Even though there are 3 choices to choose from that will do the job, there is alot more to consider. How easy is it to work with the equipment, who will be using equipment, Do you expect your needs to change in the future? Maintanance, upgrades. Some equipment are not meant to upgrade. You will need a New System that will accept upgrades. So on and So on. This course is telling me to approach IP Networking the same way. ASK the client alot of questions regarding his or her specific needs since there is no One size fits all. Does that about sum it up? Any feed back is welcome and appreciated.

PS: Or, I could be way off base!

(1)
JH
John Honovich
May 26, 2015
IPVM

Ken, good question.

Yes, the number of questions is related to the experience level of the customers. A minority of customers are very sophisticated and know most of the issues already and can simply explain the details of what they want.

However, if the prospect contact has never done an install (this often happens even for existing systems when the contact is new since the last install was done), it is best to ask a lot of questions up front when designing a system as the prospect may not even be aware of this.

On the positive side, this will show her/him you know what you are doing and help educate them on the issues involved. On the negative, this might wind up being you donating free design time.

(1)
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