Fall in love with the problem
“SPOT the problem so you can be inspired to create the solution“
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Fall in love with the problem
As the world goes rapidly round and round it’s common for businesses to find that over time their solution or product is no longer what the customer really wants or needs. Sometimes the market has shifted, trends have changed, or competitors have copied the idea, so your solution no longer exactly meets the needs of your customer.
This can be a painful and even scary time; as many entrepreneurs discovered during covid. The old way no longer has its place! We might even go into a state of fear because we’re unsure what to do now or begin to disasterise and wonder, “Is my business going to fail?”
In contrast, When we make friends with the changing times and fall in love with the problems and pain points that our customers are experiencing, we change from being fearful to becoming endlessly curious to find out what the customer wants now. We step closer to listen to them and understand their needs and desires. We lean in to hear their challenges and frustrations. We ask questions and check our assumptions. This feedback encourages us to review, revise and improve our solution so it works in the changing world.
As the world goes rapidly round and round it’s common for businesses to find that over time their solution or product is no longer what the customer really wants or needs. Sometimes the market has shifted, trends have changed, or competitors have copied the idea, so your solution no longer exactly meets the needs of your customer.
This can be a painful and even scary time; as many entrepreneurs discovered during covid. The old way no longer has its place! We might even go into a state of fear because we’re unsure what to do now or begin to disasterise and wonder, “Is my business going to fail?”
In contrast, When we make friends with the changing times and fall in love with the problems and pain points that our customers are experiencing, we change from being fearful to becoming endlessly curious to find out what the customer wants now. We step closer to listen to them and understand their needs and desires. We lean in to hear their challenges and frustrations. We ask questions and check our assumptions. This feedback encourages us to review, revise and improve our solution so it works in the changing world.
Luckily most entrepreneurs love the creative side of business, so this curious, open mindset keeps us inspired and inventive. We become less attached to the old ways and more willing to pivot or refresh our solution. We are less afraid of failure as our focus is on solving the problem, and is driven by that purpose.
The SPOT reminder I’ve created to ensure we stay alert goes like this.
- S: See what’s happening. Check the sales trends. What is selling and what is not? Check the complaints and returns board.
- P: Pick up the phone. Get personal feedback from key customers through coffee chats or catchup meetings and ask how satisfied they are. Ask what problems they are experiencing that you could solve.
- O: Observe what is happening in the wider market. What are the national and global trends that might influence changing client needs? Where are your competitors thriving? Where are they outstripping you?
- T: Take action to modify your solution so that it better fits today’s problem. If others are doing things better or cheaper than you consider partnering with them so together you can solve a mega problem, bigger than the one you had in mind in the first place.
So, this week, let’s stay inspired by the creativity of life and fall in love with the problem so we can SPOT what we need to do and can build the mindset and energy to change and improve!
