Biggest Challenge

I started with Good Karma Brands in 2000. From 2000 until the eventual end of lockdown there will have been six significant events that had major impact on how customers see the future of their businesses and how they want to go to market. Those events are:

1.     9/11/2001

2.     2008-2009- Financial Crisis

3.     March of 2020- Lockdown begins

4.     May of 2020-Heightened Social Unrest

5.     January of 2021 Capital Riots

6.     2021- Lockdown ends

Two of those events were in my first 20 years. Four of those events will have occurred over the a sixteen month period. The world is changing rapidly, and it doesn’t seem poised to stop anytime soon. What does it mean for all of us?

There are a lot of aspects of these changes that can make our lives more challenging, however there are also opportunities created by this change. One of the most basic things that this rapid change allows us to do is reset with our customers and find out their WIN (What’s Important Now). The way to do that is simply ask: what do you consider your biggest challenge right now?

There is never a bad time to reset with customers and to make sure we understand their biggest challenges, but especially now, it is important we understand our partner’s WIN.  Whether it’s your first meeting with a future customer or your 100th meeting with a long-time customer, this is a simple question you can ask and see where it leads. One caveat, if the customer gives a basic answer like “revenue”, make sure you ask some follow up questions about how they plan to do that.

If you want to try it out, ask five current customers what their biggest challenge is currently. You might be surprised at some of the answers.