Ask What Keeps Them Awake at Night
The one thing I ask all new clients is, “What keeps you awake at night?” It is something that every business owner experiences, well most do from time to time. It could be they don’t have leads coming in, they have too much inventory sitting in the warehouse, they have cash flow issues, or they have poor staff morale. Whatever it is, that is my number one priority.
Sometimes the answer is simple and we can just address it in a straightforward manner. But most of the time, that particular problem is a symptom of something more fundamental. For instance, bad sales are not always due to bad marketing but due to fuzzy messaging or weak brand positioning. Although we keep the larger problem in view, the path to fixing it may be through fixing a few other issues first.
By keeping all that we do focused around the largest issue on their agenda, I ensure that the client is completely aware of why we’re doing what we’re doing. It keeps the strategy sharp and the outcome meaningful. The best part is that by solving the primary problem, a great many of the secondary, less important problems seem to get solved along the way as well. It’s addressing what matters most, even if it isn’t necessarily logical on paper.
