Uncovering facts about the competitive dynamics entrepreneurs face in bringing a product or service to market improves their odds of success.
A critical strategy for gathering good data is to defer judgment and logic. Don’t prejudge information. Entrepreneurs must consider any information that might relate to their “fuzzy” situation. They must push beyond the obvious to get as many bits and pieces of knowledge as they can.
Entrepreneurs must ask questions about the problem—whatever comes to mind. The problem as they first perceive it may not represent the problem as it’s later perceived. Only by being open to as many potentially relevant facts as possible can entrepreneurs ensure that they will improve, expand, and enrich their final perception of the opportunity.
Uncovering new perceptions of a problem is acquired by turning to others who might have knowledge on the situation. Entrepreneurs are self-driven people attached to their vision of success. However, recognizing that no one has all the answers, it’s incumbent on them to ask themselves, “Who else might have a useful but different perspective I could draw from?” and to include them in the fact-finding phase.
The agreed upon goal of any fact-finding session should be to uncover information that can lead to better problem definition and superior solutions later. The attitude one takes toward gathering facts is critical. Approach problems with an openness to new information that may challenge preconceived perspectives on it.
Ask these six fact-finding questions to better define problems in need of innovative solutions:
What do you know, or think you know, about this fuzzy situation?
Be open to people seeing the fact another way and offering their perspective on it. Regardless of what’s said, write it down. In later steps, you can select what you think are the most relevant facts to the customer problem. Also important when fact finding is to capture the facts in full sentences. For example, if someone tells you that there’s a communication issue between the typical salesperson and customer in the industry, you shouldn’t write, “communication issue.” Instead write, “A communication issue exists between salespeople and customers.” Also ask follow-up questions, such as “What do you mean by ‘communication issue’?” The respondent might answer, “The customer doesn’t understand the technical lingo the salespeople use.”
What don’t you know about this fuzzy situation?
This question produces even more revealing information and encourages new ways of thinking. What you don’t know about a particular situation can often be the most pertinent fact. The best ways to get answers to these questions are to talk to experts that have additional knowledge on the issues. Broadly explain your idea to the expert and ask, “Do you think this idea is feasible? What suggestions do you have?”
Why is this a problem for the customer?
This question addresses why the situation is personally important to customers. What’s the customer’s motive for wanting a solution to this problem? In entrepreneurship it’s critical to pin down why the customer needs a solution to this problem. Entrepreneurs should solve problems that connect with customers in a personal way. The question also addresses what’s been stopping them from resolving it. It helps you understand the problem on a concrete, gut level rather than in the abstract. By addressing this question, the entrepreneur also gathers information that can be useful in building marketing campaigns and a brand around the solution. Good solutions tied to problems customers care about is the foundation of good product development.
What solutions have you or others already thought of or tried?
This question quickly provides as much background information as possible about the problem’s current status. If the problem exists, there are probably ways that customers deal with it and competitors try to solve it. Just as engineers design a new engine by building on previous technologies, entrepreneurs create new businesses utilizing the best of others’ approaches, improving shortcomings, and offering new twists never before seen. Recombination with some new variations and additions is the most tried and true path to innovation.
If this problem were resolved, what would customers have that they don’t have now?
In answering this fact-finding question, be extremely specific. What do the customers lack that they hope a solution will give them? Use what you discover about the problem and its existing solutions to diverge and converge on possible scenarios you could deliver to the customer to make their lives better. Which ones would excite the customer? Which ones would you enjoy delivering?
What might you be assuming that might or might not be true?
Even without thinking about it, people restrict their thinking by making unwarranted assumptions. Assuming, for example, that a product is too far out for customers to be interested in, an entrepreneur might not consider further exploration of an idea. Yet, many famous products were once considered crazy in their original formulation until some tweaking and modifications turned them into commercial successes. Crazy ideas can sometimes lead to crazy success. Clarence Birdseye’s invention of commercial frozen food, for example, revolutionized the food industry.
It’s critically important to not rush fact finding because one uncovered fact buried in a hundred answers might be the one insight that brings forth a break-through solution.
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