When learning and development (L&D) solution providers sit down at the table with potential clients, the conversation is usually more complex than: Do you want this product? Do you have budget? OK, let’s go.

Clients come to that table for all sorts of reasons. They may have a leader with strong opinions about what their tech stack should look like. Perhaps they heard a speaker at a conference talking about a new must-have tool that is “changing the game” in their industry (aren’t they all?). Often, they arrive not knowing exactly what they need but carrying a laundry list of problems they hope someone can help them solve.

The early conversations vendors have with potential clients are about so much more than assessing product fit. They are about assessing readiness for the change — in the business, in the workforce and in future plans — that will come with adopting a new solution. They are about building enough trust to uncover real problems: the things left unsaid or the root causes clients may not yet recognize themselves. And they are about laying the groundwork for what both sides hope will become a long-term partnership that evolves and adapts with changes.

The stakes at this table are high.

“If you don’t get off on a really good foot with clients, it’s very hard to recover,” says Blake Proberts, CEO and founder of Acorn. “Once people get a bad taste in their mouth, it’s hard to change their appetite to come back and revisit that solution.”

In other words, vendors need to set the table carefully if they want to serve up solutions that truly satisfy.

I spoke with strategy, change management and solution development leaders to learn about the essential conversations vendors must have before any solution is delivered, how those conversations should unfold and what to watch for along the way.

Let’s dig in.

Identify the Executive Sponsor and Decision-Makers

First thing’s first: Do you have the right people in the room? The enthusiastic training leader who brought you into the meeting might not be the one responsible for making the call.

In your early meetings, find out who is accountable for the outcomes, who will remove barriers when trade-offs arise and who is responsible for ensuring the solution actually gets used within the organization.

One potential red flag to look for is when all your decision-makers sit within the same group in the organization, says Cheryl Jackson, director of organizational design and change management at GP Strategies. “Is it just the learning organization asking for the change, or do they have a business sponsor confirming that the organization is standing behind them 100% and willing to help make the implementation a success?”

If accountability is unclear at the start, implementation challenges are likely to follow.

Define the Real Business Problem

Once you know you are talking to the right people, it’s time to uncover the problems you can help them solve. This is not always straight forward, but if you quickly find yourself in a feature comparison conversation, you might already be drifting off course.

“No one is going to come out and say, ‘Here’s what we don’t do well.’ Instead, they tell you some symptoms they are experiencing. It’s your job to diagnose what those underlying problems are that they are facing,” says Proberts.

You need to be comfortable and informed enough to know where you can and cannot help them. Sometimes you won’t be the right solution. Rather than pivoting the conversation away from their issues into an area where you feel more comfortable — or just saying yes to keep the conversation moving — you need to be prepared to hear them and understand when it’s not a good fit.

And that doesn’t need to end the conversation, says Proberts. “The world is a really big and weirdly small place at the same time,” he says. If you are not the right solution, but you offer to connect them with someone else who can help, “people feel that you want the best for them and that you care about solving their problems. That builds trust and has a way of coming back.”

Good discovery conversations focus less on product capabilities and more on diagnosing the real business challenge.

[ Also read: How to Respond to a Training and Development RFP: Stand Out, Stay Grounded and Win the Work ]

Assess the Client’s Starting Point

Clients may feel ready before you do. While eagerness from their leaders feels promising, vendors should resist rushing into engagements before establishing a clear starting point.

“When clients are open and transparent about their starting points, then we can better align around what the engagement will look like,” says Michelle Pletch, vice president of strategic solution development at ELB Learning.

In discovery conversations with clients, Pletch asks questions such as:

• Do they have subject matter experts who can support research and validation?
• Do they already know what their curriculum should look like?
• Do they need help designing role-based learning paths in their organization?
• Do they have baseline data on how their current learning programs are performing?

These questions help determine whether a client is prepared to move forward or whether foundational work is still needed. Without a shared understanding of the starting point, it’s difficult to define scope, timelines or success measures.

Align Learning Outcomes With Business Objectives

This is a big one. Getting clear on outcomes and how you will measure them is often what makes the difference between a long-term partnership and a one-off request.

Jackson gives an example of a client that requests psychological safety training to help employees experiment with artificial intelligence (AI) tools. This is your opportunity to go deep on the measurable goals behind the request, she says.

“Have they established what their organizational objectives are for AI readiness or AI implementation?” Jackson asks. “Are they just trying to change behaviors so that individuals work more efficiency, or are they trying to fundamentally change the way they do business, develop product and engage with customers?”

Those two goals require very different solutions.

Skip this step and problems will show up sooner or later, says Jackson. “If you sell them a solution without understanding their business needs, you may have an immediate success but ultimate failure when that solution sits on a shelf for a year and they don’t renew because no one is using that tool or technology,” she says.

Clarify Terminology to Avoid Miscommunication

Once you more deeply understand their problems and goals, pause to ensure everyone is aligned on the terminology being used.

Terms like “skills” and “capabilities” may seem straightforward, but they often mean different things across organizations — even across departments within the same company.

Pay close attention when you hear particularly “buzzy” words like automated microlearning, AI literacy or virtual reality because these may signal that someone in the decision-making chain is reacting to industry hype rather than a clearly defined business need.

“A lot of times clients ask for something very specific that they heard about and think is cool, like a VR experience,” says Pletch. This is where it’s really important to be a good partner and lean on your own experience.

“It may be that what they are excited about is not the right solution, and in those situations, you need enough established trust to be able to tell them: Here’s where that solution usually applies, here’s where it’s not a good solution and, for your particular objectives, this is how you should approach it,” says Pletch.

Plan for Scope Changes and New Requirements

Even if you get all of the preceding conversations right, something may go wrong along the way. A new leader may come onto the scene mid-engagement with conflicting ideas, or technology shifts might alter your well laid implementation plans. Vendors should address these possibilities early rather than scrambling to manage them later, says Jackson.

“Have a plan and process for how you will address unknowns and make strategic decisions jointly,” she says. “You may want to put in place a contingency budget for unforeseen changes, with the understanding that if they don’t use it, they’ll get that money back.”

This step can go a long way in avoiding scope creep down the road. It also strengthens vendor-client relationships, Jackson says. With a contingency plan in place, vendors can respond strategically instead of reactively when new needs arise.

Readiness Is a Shared Responsibility Between Vendors and L&D Leaders

When vendors take time to lead these conversations early, they set the stage for stronger relationships, smoother implementations and solutions that deliver real value for organizations and their learners.

“They’re not hiring you just to build a training program,” says Jackson. “They’re hiring you for your partnership in creating it, delivering it and making sure it meets their unique business needs.”

And when you get it right, the impact tends to expand beyond the original engagement, says Proberts. “You know things are going well when people start referring you into other parts of the organization. They start saying, ‘What you did here was really awesome. Can you help over here too?’”