I had an opportunity to speak with someone about their business today and I was amazed that this CEO was not able to answer a few basic questions about their business objectives. Last week I met with an entrepreneur that I helped by just asking a few simple questions....why then, to whom, how, what if and so on.
It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention and if that is true then apparently having a clear understanding of where and why your business even exists is not always a necessity. Really all business plans are like inventions - a premise followed by a theory and then a prototype followed by etc, etc. Then they either work or fail! How does a business begin or continue without answers to simple questions.
Inventors are not always right - look at Edison, so many mistakes along the way. But Inventors are curious and they are always asking themselves Why???? If your business is failing do you know why? If it is thriving do you know why? If you don't know what it is doing do you know why? If you don't care about any of this- do you know why?
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3 comments:
Frank, great post. I put my comment here. http://therainmakermaker.com/2008/04/23/why.aspx
Frank, Josh agreed with me, but asked a question. When I read the word "invention" in context, I interpreted it as 'inventing a theoretical business plan', developing the 'prototype plan', testing, applying, modifying, staying curious, asking, "Why?" Entrepreneurs may start with some sort of a plan, but many are too emotionally involved to acknowledge that an unbiased third party may be able to ask those "Why?" questions better and more effectively than they. However, Josh's question asks specifically about 'inventions' in blogging, LinkedIn and the like. You started this, let's see it.
Frank, great post. You are right on target here and what so many salespeople, even good ones, don't understand is that the more questions you ask that prospects can't answer, the more effectively you have built your value, differentiated yourself, and in turn, made you memorable. I have often equated these unanswerable questions as having a value of $2500 each. How many great questions must you ask to build the value of your product or service?
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