Good questions can elicit good, thoughtful and inspired answers. Bad questions have a tendency to generate bad answers. The issue is to be able to select the right questions at the right time.
This is a possible list of questions that may precipitate a further analysis of a series of serious issues and often challenge a series of assumptions, an unsure foundation upon which a huge business may have been built.
These questions may be used by the business owner or a business advisor. Several questions can be selected and act as the starting point for an exploratory discussion about the business. However, it is important to think carefully about what the answers actually imply for the business.
Strategy questions?
What business are you in?
Where is the money made?
How do you stand competitively in the market?
Is your industry good?
What do you need to do to make a difference?
How does one raise profits quickly?
What gets kept?
What is discarded?
Marketing questions?
Who are the target customers and clients?
Why do people buy?
Do we have any benefits?
Who are our questions?
Are customers staying or leaving?
Why are they leaving?
This theory can be applied to other areas of business such as financial, leadership or even oneself but the list is far too exhaustive to explore in detail here as it covers the whole spectrum, which as one can imagine has taken up millions of volumes over many centuries.
Food for thought crunch questions
Brand it
You cannot not communicate your brand. Everything about business communicates something. Thus it has to be asked what one is communicating.
Brand oneself that is treat yourself as a business treats its brand. Create a strategy for communicating what it is that you represent. What is your unique selling proposition?
Sort it
Don’t procrastinate. Sometimes it is better to make a decision and look at the results rather than make no decision at all.
Maintain it
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Get your customer’s permission to sell to them
Customers who have given permission to sell them are ten times more likely to spend money with you.
People love to buy from people but they hate to be sold at.
Seduce customers to do business with you but don’t treat them as though they are stupid.
Establish key indicators
If you don’t know where you’re going then any road will do. What are you trying to achieve and will hitting your performance measures enable you to achieve your goals?
Remove self-limiting beliefs
What limits have you set for yourself subconsciously? You are what you believe. How do you limit yourself?
Summarising there are many other facets of questions that can be levied but again we are limited as they encompass the entire spectrum of business and personal analysis but it is always worth asking searching and creative questions whatever the field as they are what uncover the necessary answers to progress. Often people do not ask these questions as they are too busy working in their business and not on it.