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Category Archives: Problem Solving

Are You Solving the Problem or Treating the Symptom?

Written on October 23, 2008 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Problem Solving

diagnosis Picture yourself sitting in your doctor’s office. You feel terrible – so terrible that you finally went to get your doctor’s prognosis. Your doctor walks in, takes one look at you and tells you what’s wrong.

No questioning. No prodding. No poking. No cold stethoscope.

How much confidence would you have with your doctor’s diagnosis?

None at all, right?

Yet time and time again, we see this in the business world. Prescriptions are offered without a thorough diagnosis. So many times, we treat the symptoms of the problem, rather than solving the problem itself because we don’t take the time to discover the real problem.

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Ad hoc diagnosis cost this salesperson a client

We have a friend who sells television commercials. Recently, he told us about one of his new clients. This client had been running radio ads for his high-end grills. They didn’t work. So the radio salesperson put him on another station. That still didn’t work. So the guy switched to television.

Our friend produced a great ad showing people having fun around his client’s grills. Sales are booming! His client is thrilled!

But the radio salesperson missed an opportunity. By thoroughly diagnosing the situation, it could have been determined that the problem wasn’t the station, it was the message. Couldn’t you use sound effects to create a picture in the listeners mind? If you hear the sound of food on the grill, can you put yourself there? If you hear people having fun, do you want to join in?

The radio sales representative could have kept the client by thoroughly diagnosing the problem to come up with the right solution, instead of just trying something else (i.e. changing stations).

5 steps to diagnose the problem

With everybody looking for cost-effective solutions today, diagnostics are increasingly important. If you don’t get to the root of the problem when you prescribe a solution, you’ll damage relationships. So follow this simple five-step process to thoroughly diagnose the problem:

1. Ask probing questions

2. Listen
This is really part of the first step, but it’s so important that we felt it should be listed separately. Listen actively and attentively.

3. Clarify
Keep asking follow-up questions and making clarifying statements until you fully understand the issue. If your client offers a vague answer to your question, ask a question that digs deeper. Or repeat your client’s answer back in your own words. Now you’re ready to …

4. Define the problem

5. Offer the prescription
Now, and only now, are you ready to offer your solution to the underlying problem.

If you care about your clients, you will seek to build the relationship even if it’s not in your best interest today. Without question, it is in your best interest long-term.

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Next time, we’ll talk about tapping into your creativity this Halloween to have some bigg fun. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Related posts

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Have A Problem? SOLVE IT!

Written on March 4, 2008 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Decision Making, Leadership, Personal Growth, Personality, Problem Solving, Success Stories, Time Management

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People often get overwhelmed by all of the problems they face. They just don’t know where to start. To help with that, we recently discussed an ancient Chinese secret for solving all of your problems. It’s a simple two-step process:

Put all of your problems away into their own individual compartments.

Pull one problem out at a time when you’re ready to deal with it.

It makes things more manageable when you’re not looking at all of your problems all at once. But many people don’t know what to do once they pull the problem out. It’s a timeless process, but we’ve put our own spin on it to make it easier to remember.

SOLVE IT: The 7-step problem-solving process

Statement
Origin
List
Verify
Eliminate

Implement
Test

Step 1 – Statement
State exactly what the problem is. Until you’ve defined your problem clearly, you can’t solve it!

Step 2 – Origin
Isolate the root cause of the problem. A lot of times, we stop at the symptoms of the problem. You have to find its point of origin or you won’t solve it!

Step 3 – List
Brainstorm for possible solutions. BRAINSTORM, don’t analyze. Get all of your ideas on paper so you can solve it!

Step 4 – Verify
Determine the pros and cons of each solution. You won’t know what’s best until you analyze it. Then you can solve it!

Step 5 – Eliminate
Get rid of all but the single best solution. You’ve done the research. Now go with what you believe is the best option so you can solve it!

Step 6 – Implement
Work your solution to make your solution work. You have to take action to solve it!

Step 7 – Test
You’ve established benchmarks so you know whether or not your solution is working. Check periodically against these benchmarks. Keep an eye on the problem to make sure that you solve it!

So the next time you have a problem – SOLVE IT! Isn’t that simple?