Hi Lovely People!
Innovation happens when we least expect it sometimes.
One drug on the market, Sildenafil, was originally designed for high blood pressure and chest pain. When asking patients a simple question, – what happened when you took the medication? –… they reported one surprising side effect.
The medication was originally for increased blood flow to the heart. Turns out it increases blood flow somewhere else, too. And thus – Viagra was born.
Can we think like a researcher? Remain curious and open to listening to the experiences of others? What would happen if we ask more questions?
Specifically, open-ended questions.
Open-ended questions are broad and allow someone to construct their own response without fear of judgment. Open-ended questions allow us to give more space to how the other person would answer the question.
So how does asking open-ended questions increase profit and decrease losses?
It allows us to hear the pain points and interests of the customer. It helps to bring us closer to people who think differently. Who grew up differently. Who experience life differently.
The golden rule says, I should treat other people how I want to be treated. But there’s another level – the platinum rule. To treat others how THEY want to be treated.
Rather than making assumptions that what’s good for me will be good for you, – we ask –
If we apply this concept to customers, it’s called market research. We ask a potential customer base, what are YOUR needs.
If we think of the platinum rule rather than the golden rule, open-ended questions help us discover the needs of potential customers.
And -that’s- where business grows. We make more money by – NOT – making assumptions. Market research, in its purest form, has no ego. No agenda. It makes no assumptions about how people will respond to a survey. This research approach says, simply, “I don’t know what i don’t know” Let’s find out!
If we think like a curious researcher and our market research were more like clinical research trials, we would discover the unexpected.
Just think of Viagra.
That -one open-ended question- made – a lot – of money.
