Joyce is one of my “reinvent your business” clients who likes to take things to the edge, fall off the edge, and either soar or splat.
We were discussing all the different aspects of her business model that she could reinvent: her target audience, her product/service offerings, her delivery model, her marketing model, etc. But we kept focusing our thoughts on “What does the client want?” Hey, it’s a great question — but it was limiting the discussion.
So I asked Joyce, “What could you do that would make your clients really, really angry?” She is a business consultant to medium-sized businesses, and they have certain expectations of her even if she is a solo entrepreneur.
Asking this odd question can generate great ideas. Here are some of Joyce’s answers:
- Double our prices
- Reduce our quality
- Take a longer time to deliver our services
- Take a week to answer emails and phone calls
- Show up at their office in a clown suit (or with clown-like answers)
By asking this question, Joyce was able to see which pieces of her business model were most important to her customers — and which were not:
- No where did she mention HOW she delivered her products and services.
- No where did she mention WHO delivered her products and services.
So these were two great starting places to consider reinventing in her business model.
Bingo! Asking this outrageous question opened her eyes to places where she could transform.
Question For You: If you were to ask yourself this outrageous question, what answers would come up for you? Share your comments here!
