Concept
Problem-Finding
Problem-finding is the skill of looking at a messy situation and identifying the real problem worth solving before anyone rushes to an answer.
In To Sell Is Human, Daniel Pink makes a point that stings a little. Buyers can now research almost anything before they talk to you, so having answers is no longer special. What stays scarce is the ability to look at a mess and name the actual problem, sometimes one the buyer hasn't noticed yet. Pink calls this the shift from problem-solving to problem-finding. He draws on research by Jacob Getzels and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi with art students. The students who spent the longest exploring their materials before settling on an approach produced the most original work. The same lesson applies to anyone who sells, advises or manages. Holding back the solution is not indecision. It is where your value comes from. Once the problem is named well, it becomes much easier to frame your offer with clear, honest contrast.
A real-life example
A café owner asks Maya, a web designer, for a new website because online orders are low. Maya doesn't quote a price yet. She spends twenty minutes in the café's analytics and tries the ordering flow herself. The website isn't the problem. Checkout forces customers to create an account before they can pay, and most of them leave at that step. Fixing that one form costs a fraction of a redesign. The owner hires Maya for every project after that.
How to use it
- 1Before proposing anything, ask two questions: "Why now?" and "What have you already tried?" The real problem often hides in those answers.
- 2Write the problem as one sentence and check it with the other person: "So the real issue is X, not Y. Have I got that right?"
- 3Only then frame your offer by contrast. Show plainly what changes if they solve this problem instead of the one they first described.