I listen to a nationally syndicated radio show in the morning and it’s a little bit funny and sometimes a lot of raunchy humor. It’s so entertaining it gets me through the day.
On a recent show, the host played a game called “the answer is meat.” He repeated this phrase over and over again. He would then ask a simple question like “what color is the sky?” and the person he calls would reply “blue”. The host would say, that’s the wrong answer. The answer is meat. next call. He was asking how many states are there in the US and the person he was calling said “50”. Again he said, “That’s the wrong answer, the answer is meat.” This went on for at least 5-6 calls and different questions. I, of course, am yelling at the radio: “!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And even between calls, he goes on to say, “the answer is meat” and how he couldn’t believe that no one had won yet – neither could I!
And then I realized. This is what we do as entrepreneurs. How many times has he talked to his customers or prospects and heard them say, “The answer to my problem/challenge/issue is X.” And then we proceed to tell you what WE think the answer is! Over and over again, we hear the answer and turn our attention to what we think everyone wants to hear.
In a recent conversation with an incredibly talented young businesswoman, she told a story of how she is working to build her business so she can leave her corporate job. And she connected with others in her (intelligent) field to learn what to do in order to “grow up and go.” So when we connected and she shared her approach, I asked her how the advice she was getting from those who were guiding her was working. she didn’t know she knew “meat was the answer,” but she wasn’t sure whoever was guiding her would. They’re giving her what they did and they think that’s the answer to her question too.
So how do you hear “the answer is meat” from your leads, prospects, and customers?
Ask them to describe the problem/challenge/problem in as many ways as necessary so that you have:
– A clear picture of the problem so you can describe it to the customer and get a resounding “YES, that’s it!”
– A vision of the solution that solves the problem for the customer, in such a way that there is a big smile on their faces when you deliver it! (And yes, you can “hear” a smile!)
– And finally, you want to be able to repeat “the answer is X” and hear the customer’s words coming out of YOUR mouth.
Isn’t it fascinating how a radio challenge can present such a clear roadmap that we can use to help our clients achieve results when they work with us? And for them to continue working with us! All this just by acknowledging, “the answer is meat”.
For those who have to know the end of the story, yes, someone finally got it and gave you the RIGHT answer! smile