The Art of Asking Questions
How to learn what makes your audience take action
I can picture myself sitting on the end of the couch, book in front of my face, cat in lap, and my mom asking, “Did you learn anything new in school today?”
You can guess my daily answer: “No.” And I went back to reading my book (which had nothing to do with high school.)
Despite that, I still fall into the “garbage in/garbage out” dilemma with my own teenager. Except it’s really more of “silly question in/zero information out.” For example, I won’t get anything if I ask: “Do you like your math class?” but I might if I ask: “How does your teacher compare to last year’s teacher in terms of helping you learn the concepts?”
Now compare that to me. If you were to ask me, “do you like the project you’re working on?” I would give you a long answer, not a simple yes or no.
It’s both asking the questions to avoid unhelpful answers AND understanding who you’re asking.
Ask with the End in Mind
We all know not to assume what our “customers” care about (meaning anyone who buys from, donates to, volunteers, or advocates for you). But can’t we just give the right prompts to an AI tool and get a beautiful ICP (ideal client persona) or customer journey map (all the decisions they make before buying/donating/signing up for something)?
Well, you can give prompts to AI. And AI will pull from information that already exists. Which could work if the exact kind of customer you want to reach has already been researched by someone else, and all the raw data was put into the AI you happen to be using.
But wouldn’t it be better to talk directly to the people you want to work with, in real time? I can’t think of a single service you would need to sell, or philanthropic/civic request you would need to make, that doesn’t need to first appeal to the person. Which means you have to understand them, not someone like them, but the actual real people.
What’s my motivation?
Before a person takes action on your organization’s behalf, they need to be acting on their own behalf. Even if it’s pure “charity,” we do it because it fulfills something for us – even if it’s only making us feel less guilty.
For example:
| What I care about | What I do | How that benefits an organization |
|---|---|---|
| No one being hungry (unless they’re fasting on purpose) | I donate to hunger-relief organizations | They get money to pay for their operations and programs |
| My child being able to play sports they love | I volunteer to help with team activities | They get the extra help they need, since they can’t afford more staff |
| Running my business with minimum hassle | I don’t invest in a lot of tools and systems | The one with the simplest user interface and fewest set-up steps wins my monthly fees |
Let’s take that last one – running a business with minimum hassle. That same motivation is shared by millions of small business owners. But we all define hassle differently. For those who love technology, they’ll happily try new tools. Others love research and consider it time well spent not just doing an AI search but then also going to the various websites and reading reviews.
And what we spend our money on will differ, too. I might prefer Microsoft products because they’re familiar to me, therefore less of a hassle. Someone from another background might prefer the Google suite – for the same reason.
This is where the art of asking questions comes in. You need to be truly curious or at least force yourself to ask “why” 5 times to get to the true motivation as well as the person’s values/behaviors.
You may be familiar with the 2017 General Mills struggle with its Yoplait brand when Chobani entered the market. Yes, the Fortune 500 company had done lots of consumer research and had lots of sales data, too.
But what they missed was the larger context – the “values” or motivation part. Beyond taste and texture, “Consumers are increasingly seeking products that match their personal definition of real food,” said General Mills’ then-CEO Ken Powell (see the Fortune article here). The big corporate brands couldn’t compete with the story of start-up Chobani.
The right answer is a formula, not one answer
Clearly, understanding your market or audience is not at all clear. It comes down to identifying the people who need your solution and then asking them questions to get to that inner motivation. Not just questions about your specific offer, but how they live their lives and make their decisions.
After all, if we all solved the same problems the same way, regardless of our values, personality, preferences, and lifestyle, the world would have only one company in each category. One problem would equal one solution.
That’s not how humans work.
Because we’re kind of complicated creatures, if you’re in the business of attracting humans to the solution you’re offering, we need to ask lots of good questions.
If you need help figuring out what to ask and how, let me know. Happy to talk it through, and if I can’t help, I have a wide network who can.
Take 2: Sharing Good Stuff
1. From Charles at Pip Decks
A good branding strategy is like knowing your business’s personality. What it does - every day, without fail - and what it will never do.
Design is how things look. But even the most beautiful logo can’t save a brand that means nothing to people. Branding is the personality and purpose of the business - and it powers both design and marketing efforts.
2. Winnie-the-Pooh:
"When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it."
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