I was struggling with my approach to a conversation. I didn't know which approach was right for the customer. My information was limited. This is not unusual. The pending conversation was approaching quickly and I expected the customer to be highly analytical and detailed when receiving my message. Along with my presentation I had a couple of solutions I could offer them. I didn't know what they do today. The solution to my problem was hiding in this realization. If I didn't know what their baseline for the conversation was, why not ask them? That's what I did. After brief introductions, I asked them what they do today. A dialog emerged from this that continued throughout the presentation. With just a few minutes of listening to them I was able to tailor the next thirty minutes to the message they needed.