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www.HartfordBusiness.com May 8, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 21 BIZ BOOKS 9 steps to better problem solving "S top Guessing — The 9 Behav- iors of Great Problem Solv- ers by Nat Greene (Berrett- Koehler Publishers, $19.95). When we look at problems, we see their effects and begin guessing at what caused them. Guessing, whether based upon prior experience of supposition, often leads to treating the symptoms (i.e. what can be seen) versus the real source(s) of the issue. By treating the symptoms, you're solution- guessing, which results in developing a workaround that usually "kicks the can down the road" and eventual- ly fails. Greene offers a holis- tic approach characterized by understanding symptoms are interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole. Here are his nine interrelated behaviors: 1. "Stop Guessing." and 2. "Smell the problem." — Look for the real causes. Think like a doctor who diagnoses a patient's problem by look- ing at its symptoms from various aspects. They examine the outward signs and probe deeper through batteries of tests. Similarly, in business, it's usually not just one thing that causes a problem. Working backwards through all aspects of the issue by defin- ing the "who, what, when" allows you to assess the domino effect of interactions, decisions and implementation. This allows you to identify and track patterns of both success and failure (i.e. when things started going awry). 3. "Embrace your igno- rance." — You don't know what you don't know. Think about that. When solving prob- lems, it's easy to frame them in terms of "what worked before" when dealing with similar issues. You must rec- ognize that no situations are alike, and ask questions that identify the unique aspects of this situation. People often hesitate to ask ques- tions for fear of appearing dumb. That's wrong-headed. What would you think of a doctor who didn't ask you questions about your symptoms? 4. "Know what problem you're solv- ing." — When a problem definition is an assumption, problem solvers "gallop toward the entirely wrong cause with unjus- tified confidence." This leads to investing people, time and money into a venture that won't find the cause. Thinking of the problem as a variable, rather than an absolute, makes it "immune to assumption." Example: There's a problem with on-time distribution. Recognizing that the system has numerous moving parts you can separate its variables and begin the pro- cess of assessing the acceptable and unac- ceptable ranges for each. 5. "Dig into the fundamentals." — Albert Einstein said: "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Look to the fundamentals of the "prime movers" (e.g. people, processes, technology, etc.) that control the out-of- range variables. This narrows your search for the problem's root cause(s). When ana- lyzing information, remember: "Correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation." 6. "Don't rely on experts." — That doesn't mean that you don't use subject matter experts (SMEs) to obtain relevant information. It does mean that you don't rely on them to solve your problem. Every organization has its unique culture, people, processes and procedures. You can't expect a SME, even an internal one, to understand how parts outside their area of expertise may affect the problem. 7. "Believe in a simple solution." — If you've really found the problem's root, "simple" presents itself. The more complex the "fix," the less likely you found the root; resorting to "overkill" becomes very expensive and time consuming, and may spawn other problems. 8. "Make fact-based decisions." — When you've identified an out-of-range variable, gather its facts by asking questions about what affects the variable. Beware of relying solely on statistical data because it can't explain rela- tionships between people and processes. Also, separate real fact from those col- ored by personal or groupthink preferenc- es. If you can't, you'll be making opinion- influenced decisions, which often won't solve the problem. 9. "Stay on target (remember 1, 2, 5 & 7)." — By developing an extensive list of all possible problem influencers, determin- ing root cause becomes more difficult and time consuming. Greene uses business and daily life cases to illustrate his "9 Behaviors". n Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer. Jim Pawlak EXPERTS CORNER Why customers won't buy from you By John Graham S alespeople are always alert for "buy- ing signals," those indications that the customer is ready to say "yes." When this happens, the savvy salesperson knows it's time to stop talking and ask for the order. But salespeople often miss the warning signs that all is not well. Mostly unspoken, these are the "no sale signals" customers send when they're dissatisfied with a salesperson. Here are 10 of them: 1.You don't con- nect with me. You think you do with your small talk and feigned friendli- ness. It's all an act, the same one you put on for every cus- tomer. Your efforts at manipulation are transparent and belittling. You don't give even one good reason to buy from you. 2.You're only interested in making a sale. You may think that's your job. It's not. You haven't figured out that your role as a salesperson is understanding what's going on with your customers, what they're thinking about, and what they want to accomplish. Do that, and the sale will take care of itself. 3. You decide what I should buy. Evi- dently, you don't trust your customers to make their own buying decisions, so you do it for them. You don't trust them enough to offer options. Do you think choices will confuse them — or worse, drive them away? Try help- ing your customers examine the possibilities so they can narrow the choices to the point that they say, "This is what I want." 4. You push the customer to make a decision. You and your customer aren't on the same page when it comes to urgency. You prepare the proposal quickly, make the pre- sentation, and get a positive response from the customer. You make constant attempts to motivate the customer, but nothing works. The customer procrastinates. Later, you find out the order went to someone else. Pushing customers doesn't work. 5. You don't answer the customer's questions. Salespeople think they do, but they don't. They're so intent on what they want to get across, they don't hear what the customer is saying or how they're acting. Even so, salespeople come away pleased with their performance and pat themselves on the back for the great job they did on the presentation — but they don't get the order. 6. You make the customer feel inad- equate. You don't do it deliberately, and you would be surprised and even shocked if customers told you how you made them feel. It's easy to assume customers have a certain level of knowledge but many don't — due to the rapid changes in every industry, including their own. It's important to remember that you may be better informed than the customer, no matter what you are selling. This makes it easy for a customer to feel inadequate — and defensive. If the person is sensitive, this can harm your chances of moving forward. 7. You don't stay in touch after the sale. You make a point of telling customers that you will be checking in with them from time-to-time to see how they're doing and to answer their questions. You know that's what they want to hear from their salesperson. When you don't do it, you let them down. They fell for your line, and you've played them for a sucker, or so they think — and that makes the bad juices flow. Then you wonder why you don't get any more business or referrals from them. 8. You don't follow through. You say you'll get a customer the requested informa- tion. Three weeks later, you haven't done it. Then, he reminds you, and you make up an excuse or throw a colleague under the bus. The customer comes to the conclusion that he can't count on you. It's time to realize that such experiences are indelible. 9. You try to impress customers rather than help them. To put it bluntly, all too often, salespeople make themselves the "star" of the show. For some reason, per- haps it's a lack of self-confidence, salespeo- ple feel it necessary to "sell" themselves to a customer by peppering the conversation with success stories and name dropping. All the while, what customers are looking for is help, and you miss the opportunity to make a sale. 10. You don't play it straight. The day after having a car serviced, the dealer's rep called to see if the work was satisfactory. The customer told her that he was pleased. So far, so good — until the other shoe dropped. Then the dealer's rep added, "You may get a call from the manufacturer asking about our service." That's all it took to know what was important to the dealer. The customer felt the dealer was using him. n John Graham of GrahamComm is a mar- keting and sales strategy consultant and business writer. John Graham ▶ ▶ Beware of relying solely on statistical data because it can't explain relationships between people and processes.