Dig Deeper and Deeper

I saw this yesterday in my email and will use it with my sales staff in an upcoming meeting:

And Then What? The Question to Ask, Ask, and Ask Again to Get to Your Product’s Soul

Posted: 03 Apr 2009 06:27 AM PDT

Just Like Toyota’s Famous 5 Whys, Here’s a Way to Drill Down to Pay Dirt

It’s not enough just to ask questions. We need to ask questions that will get us to the root of a problem or that will deliver an in-depth understanding of the soul of our product. In a wonderful recent article by Philly Wordsmith, we are treated to a unique approach to understanding the essence of our customers’ concerns and of how our products should meet them.

It boils down to asking the same question, "And then what?," iteratively until we get to that fundamental understanding.

Why, daddy, why?

This might be the original inspiration both for Toyota and for Philly Wordsmith. Imagine the persistence of a four-year-old who won’t stop until she gets the answer to the question, "why is the sky blue?" She wants an answer to this all-important question just as we are looking to drill down to root causes in the case of Toyota or to the soul of our product in the case of Philly Wordsmith’s example, Axe Body Spray. We need to be equally persistent.

The Toyota five whys

The root cause of a problem is not always obvious. So, we need a simple way to find out what the problem is as quickly as possible so we can solve it. That’s where the ‘five whys’ come in. As Wikipedia explains it, "The real key is to encourage the troubleshooter to avoid assumptions and logic traps and instead to trace the chain of causality in direct increments from the effect through any layers of abstraction to a root cause that still has some connection to the original problem." Here’s their example:

My car will not start. (the problem)

1. Why? - The battery is dead. (first why)
2. Why? - The alternator is not functioning. (second why)
3. Why? - The alternator belt has broken. (third why)
4. Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and has never been replaced. (fourth why)
5. Why? - I have not been maintaining my car according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, root cause)

The 6 ‘Then What?’ Questions

This is a wonderful way of drilling down that gives us powerful insights into how our customers are thinking about what will happen to them either when they take advantage of our solution–or, sadly, when they fail to do so.

Here’s how Philly Wordsmith lays it out: “This system helps the marketer get into the head of the potential customer therefore making it much easier and effective sell. It’s a thought organizer for my brain, for sure. The Then-What questions are especially great for the less sexy or unfamiliar product line and also company services. We’re harnessing buyer motives with this system. I use it every time.”

Thus for Axe, and the poor sap who doesn’t use it, our repeated questions will predict his tragic fate:

Customer without product: doesn’t get Axe Body Spray.

• Then what? Well, then I’ll stay the same, which is sometimes stinky.
• Then what? If I’m sometimes stinky, that will gross people out.
• Then what? People won’t want to be around me.
• Then what? I’ll be alone.
• Then what? I’ll be a loser.
• Then what? I’ll die alone.

Great stuff! Be sure to check out Philly Wordsmith’s intriguing take on things: Philly Wordsmith.

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