Tap the Power of 'Why' to Uncover Prospects' Challenges

Editor's Note: The following is expanded content from Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in Any Situation. In this piece, co-authors Mike Schultz and John Doerr explain how to get at the root causes of need so you can solve prospect challenges in the most permanent and helpful way. Read more about the book here.

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"It’s not that they can’t see the solution, it’s that they can’t see the problem.”
–G.K. Chesterton

One day the production line stopped suddenly, and the whole plant shut down.

It was horrible!

The company lost tens of thousands of dollars an hour by not turning out widgets as the staff stood idly by and waited.

The problem was in the ViperAssembly machine. No matter what they tried, they just couldn’t fix it for good. They replaced the McGurnkney nut, and it worked for about a day. Then it stopped again. Then they tried realigning the Johnson rod, and that fix only lasted three hours.

So, they called in old Gaylen Tyrol. Recently retired, he operated the ViperAssembly machine for 30 years, and he knew everything about it. He turned the machine on and listened to it sputter. Then he reached into the machine, pulled out the Gimbel, replaced it with a new one, and turned it back on.

It ran, and ran and ran. For five years without another issue.

Gaylen knew that when a Gimbel is faulty, it makes the McGurkney nut overheat and melt and that replacing it wouldn’t fix anything.

He knew that when the McGurkney nut melts, the Johnson Rod comes out of alignment. So, fixing the Johnson rod wouldn’t fix the problem either.

It all starts with Gimbel. Fix the Gimbel, and fix the root of the problem.

When salespeople uncover challenges, it’s very tempting to jump to a solution quickly. But if the challenge is more a symptom than a root cause, a solution will be temporary only, and the problem will come back over and over.