1) Budget Questions

a. Historical? – would it be the same/similar scale like the previous project done but scare of the
similar issued arise when come to supply?

b. 3rd Party Story – did supplied few of the similar types of project located in different area but we
manage to resolve the issued.

c. Bracketing – including tech support thru out the project.

2) Decision Questions
a. Who?
Are you the right person to speak to?
b. What?
Any other support is needed besides what being told?
c. When?
Is it going to start soon? How soon, weeks, months?
d. Where?
Is the location somewhere near or can point out the right location?
e. How?
Would you mind to share the duration of the project?
f. Why?
Could you elaborate more about the consent, like to understand more?
TIMELINE

12/04 18/04 03/05 06/05

Understandings meet with client provide first proposal client commend

13/05 15/05

Revise proposal client commend (if No) purchase order/contract

(if Yes)

Second revise proposal client comend purchase order/ contract

20/05 28/05
3) Budget Questions
d. Historical?

Reffering to order history, your bagged cement last order is a about 4 months ago, could you
share with me what is the actual reason?

e. 3rd Party Story

XYZ construction is the among top 5 list in the market, who are very supportive and keen
keeping business relationship with us. Prior then, throughout the bagged cement we supplied
for all their projects, there is none complaints received.

f. Bracketing
Price is very subjective from time to time depends on market trends, internal & external factors.

4) Decision Questions
g. Who? Who is the final decision maker on this purchase?

h. What? What are the main concern/criteria you looking into this purchase?

i. When? When is the new projects starts & the durations for this projects?

j. Where? Where is the new projects located?

k. How? How we can support you better other than good price?

l. Why? N/A

TIMELINE
3 DAYS
I shall get in touch with you again within next three days. Hopefully there is a good news from
you.
1) Budget Questions

a. Historical

- What are the bad experience they have encounter with the other suppliers currently.

- If it’s a past customer which stop taking, find out why, what happened that made them stop taking.

b. 3 rd Party Story

- Stories that has been in around the market about us.

- To gather some additional info from the market on the customer’s background, likes and dislikes,

project size etc.

- What is the pricing and payment terms they are getting from other suppliers.

c. Bracketing

- To find out more on what is being expected by the customer, in terms of volume, service, pricing,
payment terms and quality expectations.

2) Decision Questions

a. Who?

- To find out who is the person who has the authority to say yes on the deal.

- Also to find out if there is any other person who is involve in the decision making , who can stop the
deal from going . ( E.g. Architects, owner, sub-contractors)

b. What?

What will this customer be looking for in terms of volume, pricing, service , quality & etc.

c. When?

An estimated time when can we start supplying, when will be the peak of the project, and when will be
the end. The above info is needed for us to plan how fast we need to go on the account opening to the
arrangement of our fleet to support your project.

d. Where?

- Where will this project be at? Will the access be suitable for our transporters to go in , or do need to
make special arrangement , take special notes .

e. How?
- How are we to improve on what is currently being delivered by other suppliers, (Service & Reliability)

f. Why?

-Why are the wanting to look for other suppliers?

TIMELINE

3rd Feb

- make appointment address the objective and time needed for the meet up

5th Feb

- Meet with the people involve , surface intro on products and services, people involve, getting to know
the customers want & needs, why do they agree to give us this chance to meet up.

9th Feb

- Submit first proposal, no comment proceed with the account opening,

15th Feb

- Follow up / submit second proposal is first proposal is not accepted.

21 Feb

- Get PO and roll out the orders .

 1) Budget Question
a. Historical? – Why XYZ can provide higher rebate & longer payment term but you can’t?
b. 3rd party stories – As I know that my customer ABC also taken from XYZ and having
higher rebate but including volume incentive which is RM 5/ton based on 1,500mt
monthly target. based on such term and condition, my customer ABC unable to accept
because of they are unable to achieve 1,500mt per month as their monthly
consumption around 1300-1400mt only, in other words XYZ rebate is lower than us.
c. Bracketing - Pricing will be determine by transportation charges, total volume
consumption per month, Existing cement supplier, distance & etc for the unsure
circumstances ( customer not will to provide more details info )
2) Decision Question
a. Who?
- Who is the key person to reject? Who can help to touch up with this key
person?
b. What?
- What is the price & quality you are looking for? what is your total
consumption ?
c. When?
- When you will start order with us?
d. Where?
- Where is your plant?
- Which plant will you switch to us?
e. How?
- How many plant that you have?
- How many plant you will swing to us?
f. Why?
- Why XYZ rebate so tricky but you still support? Why not swing to us as we are
really supporting you.
TIMELINE

Understand what customers need, what kind of product they are running and what kind of product they
are looking for → Call for appointment →Presentation & Explanation →Follow up →Trouble shooting
→Close sales
1) Budget Questions

a. Historical

Ask them the good and bad experiences they had with their current bulk cement suppliers to find out if
there is any issue relating to pricing. This helps us to learn the price sensibility of the customer.

How many times have they switched suppliers in the past. was is it due to pricing?

What projects and how many projects they are currently supplying to or have supplied in the recent past
to gauge their sales performance.

Asking prying questions about salary increment and bonus in a tactful manner to figure the company’s
financial health.

b. 3rd Party Story

Ask them about their current list of contractor’s customers. This helps us to understand which
contractors they are close with and based on the contractors’ payment reputation, we can roughly
gauge the prospect financial. (e.g. a contractor customer with bad payment record tells a lot about his
supplier’s financial position)

Try to find out its ready-mix competitors and friendly competitors. This gives us insight on which ready-
mix players they are competing against. It helps us to quote the right price if we have price information
on their competitors. If it is a friendly competitor, they may share the same market information
(including pricing). This information comes into handy especially when their competitors are our
customer too.

If the prospect is a close friend to one of our customers, talk to them more on the projects currently
undertaken by our customers and observe their comments. It may provide valuable insight on pricing.

c. Bracketing

Based on the information collected earlier on the prospect such projects, consumption of cement, credit
terms, etc, offer them a similar pricing bracket as our existing customer with the same criteria.

2) Decision Questions

a. Who?

Find out who is the ultimate decision maker, influencer, and the one with veto power. It could be the
plant manager, quality control personnel or the wife (in a family business context). Sometimes, this
person may be someone outside the organisation itself such as contractors or developer.
b. What?

What are the decision maker’s concerns (e.g. pricing, quality or service).

c. When?

How fast is their decision making process.

By when can our side expect an answer.

How soon can we collect the necessary processing documents if it went through.

d. Where?

Where is the decision made? It could be at ready-mix company level, sub-con level or developer level. In
ready-mix, it is commonly made at company level. However, in certain cases, the consultant at the
contractor level holds a very powerful influence over the selection of supplier.

e. How?

How is the decision made? A big corporation could go by vote. But most of the ready-mix players will go
by decision of the owner.

f. Why?

Understand why decision is made in a certain manner. For example, if the decision if made at contractor
level, question why? It could be due to strict control in quality aspect from contractor’s level.

TIMELINE

The decision timeline for most ready-mix players are likely going to be short as follow:

1) Purchaser briefs the boss about the key point in a discussion

2) Boss gives approval to test out the cement quality
3) We will then send sample to the plant to test out the cement.
4) If the quality is good and pricing is right, the boss will give green light to use our cement.
5) We will then proceed to open trading account with the customer.