When we decide to work together I’ll ask you questions. Lots of questions. I’ll ask these questions even if I understand a lot about your technology segment, company, and product. I should know a lot already — before I ask the questions I’ll learn as much as I can about you, your product and your customers and prospects. I’ll ask that you send me as many materials as you can get your hands on. The more you send me at this point, the better and faster the writing process will go.
When it’s time to ask the questions, I want to hear the answers from your own mouth — the subject expert, the man or woman who lives and breathes your product offerings. This is the insider input that will let me not only really understand your company and product, but communicate that understanding to the prospects that need you the most. Remember that the small amount of time you invest in talking to me will pay you back in spades with the speed, truth and accuracy of the finished draft.
Typical questions will include:
- Are we discussing a new product, a product family, a new technology, company strategy, or industry thought leadership?What are your product’s features and benefits?
- If it’s a product or technology (and most of the time it will be) what are its top benefits? This will drive positioning.
- Who are your major competitors?
- What threats do they represent? (Don’t worry — you can assume I am under NDA for this kind of information from all my clients. If you would like me to sign an NDA that I will not share privileged information then I’m happy to sign it, but I would not share it anyway.)
- How do you differentiate your product/services from your competitors? Exclusive features, unusual benefits, great customer service, price?
- All products in a similar technology segment will share some attributes. What are your very favorite attributes whether or not the competition has them too?
- What industries are you reaching out to? Why?
- What size of business? SMB, mid-sized, enterprise? Why? Do you want to stay in your sweet spot?
- What type of business do you sell to? Direct to business, resellers, managed service providers, OEMs, the channel?
- What customer problems does the product solve in the marketplace?
- How does the product work? No really, how does it work? I should understand the concepts but I need to understand its details.
- Can you get testimonials/customer references for the product?
- Who are your main customer types?
- What are they sensitive to/ looking for? Integration, price, particular features?
- Are they generally motivated by new technology or because of business needs?
- What turns them off? (High prices, industry jargon, big names/little names?)
- What is the copy objective? Lead gen and shortening the sales cycle are primary objectives; secondary objectives include thought leadership, telling customer stories, publicizing technology, and branding.