The 11 questions

A good way to develop insights that can be used in your business strategy is to answer these questions:

1. What is our offering?
2. Who are our customers?
3. What do they want?
4. What do we want?
5. Is there a match between our and their wants?
6. How do they know about us?
7. How do they obtain our offering?
8. What is the current market?
9. What is the future market?
10. How will our offerings change?
11. Where are we going?

Here is some extra information per question:

1. What is our offering

What is the result people buy from you?

2. Who are our customers?

Who influences and makes the buying decisions?

3. What do they want?

What motivates our potential client or customer to make the decision to go for your offering? People can have all kinds of wants but will not be motivated to pursue getting any of them. From their point of view, hwat is in their best interest? What are their values, and what do they value? What are they looking for and why?

4. What do we want?

What motivates us to offer what we offer?

5. Is there a match between their wants and ours?

When there is a strong match, there is a basis for doing business. We can build relationships with customers based on mutuality, so that transactions are in everyone’s best interest.

6. How do they know about us?

It is not enough to have the very best offering. If noone knows about it, noone will be able to have the benefit of getting it. This questions is about marketing.

7. How do they obtain our offering?

Once our customers know about our offering, how do they get it? How do we distribute it? (Not all businesses have this element of logistics going on)

8. What is the current market?

Perhaps our market is wider or narrower than we think? What is the current market in terms of offers similar to yours? What is the current market in terms of clients similar to yours?

9. What is the future market?

Markets change. Sometimes we can see a change coming and anticipate on this change?

10. How will our offering change?

What will our offer look like in a year, two years, five years or even longer?

11. Where are we going?

Apart from how our offering might develop into in the future, do we have a sense of where we are going in general?

• These questions come from The path of least resistance for managers by Robert Fritz and are also part of his trainings in creating structures for success in goals of organisations and people.