For anyone with young kids, you’ll know that one of the most endearing yet frustrating things they do is ask ‘why’. And they do it a lot.
Children are curious; they try to make sense of the world, so asking ‘why’ is the perfect tactic.
When a parent answers ‘because it just is’, it means we have lost our curiosity, determination, or patience. Back to your business: Would you ever answer a question like “Why is my new customer acquisition so expensive?” with the reply ‘Because it just is’? I hope not.
If you stop asking ‘why’ when it gets hard to answer, you won’t get to the essence of the problem, and you may spend time and effort solving the wrong thing.
So we say act like a child and ask why… all the time!
Using The Five Whys Technique
Developed in the 1930s by Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota Industries, The Five Whys Technique was created to understand the reasoning behind product features or manufacturing processes.
It is a simple and effective tool for investigating issues, determining their root causes, uncovering actionable insights, and ultimately creating growth strategies.
The method is as simple as it sounds: ask ‘why’ five times to identify the root cause of a problem. Even though it sounds like something kids say that annoys their parents, the process, done correctly, will foster curiosity and a deeper understanding.
The Five Whys in Action
Imagine you have tasked your marketing team with bringing in new customers, and despite their best efforts, they are struggling.
Why are we struggling to acquire new customers?
Why one: Our marketing efforts don’t appeal to new customers.
Why two: We haven’t clearly defined our ideal customers.
Why three: We haven’t researched who currently buys from us or what problems we solve for them.
Why four: We don’t know how to gather valuable customer information.
Why five: We spend all our marketing time, energy and money on activation rather than understanding potential customers.
In this example, if you don’t follow the process you might end up spending valuable marketing resources on trying different channels or tactics. But ask why to really get to the root, and you will divert resources into doing something that will help you build a robust and sustainable growth plan.
All by just asking ‘why’.
Keep growing.