The importance of asking questions in business

Hey you … business owner … I have a question for you

And I don’t mean questions about what you do on a day-to-day, business as usual basis. I mean strategic questions, challenging questions, questions that are confronting to ask and even more confronting to answer. 

Odds are, it’s been a while. And that’s okay! I know it’s easy to get so caught up with running the business (aka working in the business), it’s almost impossible to make the time to step back and work on the business. 

I get it. Guilty as charged, your honour. 

"I warned them that I’d be coming with questions. All. The. Questions."

Ask questions: business strategy

Ironically, while I can forget to ask them of myself about our business (whoops, sorry Ben!), I love posing challenging questions to my clients, especially when it comes to better understanding (or even creating) their business strategy.

Recently, I had the pleasure of spending four hours with an incredible business that wants to take their brand to the next level. Watch this space – it’s a cracker! 

I warned them that I’d be coming with questions. All. The. Questions. 

They were ready for them, so they said. However, by the end of the four hours, they admitted that I had asked them questions that they hadn’t even considered. 

And few of them were actually about their marketing. The bulk were about their strategy, their business, their customers, their products and services, their promises, the problems they’re solving, their values … and the beautiful, engaging stories they have to tell their customers. 

Are you really "marketing ready"?

You see, you can ask all the questions in the world about your marketing, but if you haven’t done the work on your strategy, structure, and storytelling (via the art of question asking), you’re really not “marketing ready”. 

As we left the meeting, the general manager told me that it had been the most productive session he’d ever been involved in, because of the questions I asked. I had left him with a completely different view of his business and where he wanted to take it. His eyes had been opened to new possibilities. Yeah, I was pretty chuffed about that. 

While I’ll happily come into your organisation with my question asking strategy hat on, any time, you don’t need an Alli to start the process (although, I’m super useful!). You can harness the power of asking questions today. Right now. Do it! 

No such thing as a dumb question

And, that old adage is true … there really is no such thing as a dumb question. In fact, being willing to ask dumb questions is, ironically, one of the smartest things you can do. 

Because asking questions pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to think about what you might be, what you could be, not just what or who you are today.

Deep, right? 

Asking the right questions might take you from selling products A, B and C with a 20 per cent profit margin, to selling just product F, with a 50 per cent profit margin. 

A good question asking session, one in which you’re committed to digging deep and being honest, might steer you in a completely different direction and shine a spotlight on new possibilities and opportunities. 

So, if you’re up for a question asking session that helps you to explore your strategy, structure, and storytelling, to ensure you’re “marketing ready” reach out today!