operating your business? Whether the movie was exciting, funny
(my opinion, except for the pathetic guy who was always scared)
and made a point that I've tacked up on my white board: Go all
out! Playing it safe isn't going to get you anywhere and you
might still end up with your nose bloody.
Here's someone else that took something away from the movie
that might help you when it seems you've pulled a real
bone-head mistake in your business: Enjoy
2. Four W's of Business Coaching Consultants
Have you ever encountered a sales person you'd like to just put
Super Glue on their mouth? This is the guy or gal who instead
of listening to your question, jumps in with what they 'think'
you might say?
Would you go to a doctor who doesn't want to touch a patient,
but peers from the waiting room doorway while diagnosing each
person sitting there?!
Sound silly reading it but many of you are doing this in your
business, and the worse offenders are business consultants and
coaches.
It doesn't matter who your prospective client may be, if you are
not asking "what and why" questions to determine their
particular pain points, you are no better than our good 'Doorway
Doctor'.
Pining down what they are having a problem with is easy, but it
may not be the cause of the problem which is where your
expertise lies - solving the right problem and not taking
anything at face value.
Your client isn't stupid, they know they have a problem or they
would not have contacted you. Where most consultants and
coaches "misdiagnose" is taking what the client thinks is the
problem.
Asking 'why' puts your client on the same side in resolving the
problem with you. For example, a client comes to you and says
"My sales are way down from last quarter and that's my
problem". Is it really?
The normal step is to ask what has happened since last quarter?
This is also where many consultants and coaches stop. You may
hear competition, people aren't buying, and so forth. But is
that the real reason?
Unless you look beyond the obvious and ask 'Why aren't sales
increasing?', you can miss the change in suppliers, failure to correct
a product flaw or any number of other reasons.
You are the business coach consultant and don't have the luxury
of taking your clients assumptions at face value.
What you want are facts you can work with in suggesting possible
solutions. The best way to do this is ask for supporting proof,
especially if your client base is other businesses.
Old school journalists were found of talking about the 4 W's and
they are transferable to most business problems:
1. Who. Who are the principles, those with the most information
about the problem. How do you know?
2. What. What are the top three ways this problem is impacting the
client. Where's your proof?
3. When. When was the effect of this problem validated? Don't
show surprise when your client can't tell you!
4. Why. Why is it critical to solve this problem now? Dumb, not if
your client has decided to expand operations, accept larger
clients and there is a deadline to meet.
With this information in hand, you are in a better position to
know which solutions to recommend.
If you submit proposals after making a bid for client work, you
also are in a stronger position to know what price to bid or if
it will require adding staff to implement the solutions.
It's important to consider all opinions your client and their
people may offer, but eventually you'll need verifiable facts
in order to summarize your proposed solution.
Consider using some form of these four questions as your
'secret recipe' to pre-qualify and win more consulting and
coaching clients.
That's it for today and I leave you with this -
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a
time.”~Narrator, Fight Club
Leave a comment!
