Recognizing and understanding your Audiences 69 how do we ask great questions? As with all aspects of campaigning, this requires an attitude, a process and an accompanying skill set. The attitude, as we have already stated, is based on curiosity and respect. Too often, people who need to influence others positively, for example, experts in education, healthcare, science or law, fail to use the language of their audience and/or to share their knowledge in ways that show either an understanding or a respect for their life experience. One of the reasons why suits don't sell them- selves is because no matter how good the material, it always has to be crafted to fit the shape, the expectations and the needs of the buyer. The same is true of all material in all contexts. The ability and willingness to question well, respectfully and repeatedly is essential if we are going to cut our campaign cloth into a comfortable fit for others to wear. The first question to ask when undertaking any form of research is, `Do I need to ask a question right now?' The answer will often be `Yes'. However, there are times during the process when it is best to exercise restraint and to wait for a more appro- priate time and place. This might be because we do not have enough knowledge to enable us to form the most useful question yet and so need to do more background research, or because the context is prohibitive, or because we do not yet have the relationship with those we seek to question to begin, or continue, the process. When we are ready to begin questioning, we need then to be clear about the