What's Really Broken? Identifying the True Problem

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You’re listening to Elevated, the snackable, weekly podcast helping Kitchen & Bath Designers build a better business. I’m your host, Brandy Lawson, and in this episode we're tackling the million-dollar question: What's actually broken in your business? Maybe you think you know, and maybe it’s not what you think it is.

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Episode Transcript

(00:05):
You're listening to Elevated,the snackable weekly podcast,
helping kitchen and bathdesigners build a better
business.
I'm your host, Brandy Lawson,and in this episode, we're
tackling the million dollarquestion.
What's actually broken in yourbusiness?
Maybe you think you know, andmaybe it's not what you think it
is.
Let me tell you about Maria'sdesign firm.
She came to me convinced sheneeded new proposal software

(00:27):
because proposals were takingtoo long.
Sounds pretty straightforward,right?
But when we actually dug intothe problem, well, let's just
say we discovered somethingcompletely different.
I'll tell you what we found in aminute, but first, let's talk
about how to figure out what'sreally broken in your business.
You've got your worksheet opento the problem definition
section, right?
Perfect.
We're going to walk through thistogether using Maria's story as

(00:50):
our example.
And don't worry if you haven'tdownloaded it yet, just head to
fieryfx.
com slash choose and grab itnow.
I'll wait.
Got it?
Let's dig in.
First question.
What specific problem are youtrying to solve?
Now this is where most peoplewill say something like my CRM
sucks or project management is amess But that's like a client
telling you my kitchen doesn'twork.

(01:11):
Okay, but what does thatactually mean?
Here's how Maria started.
Proposals take forever.
I need better software.
But when I asked her to getspecific Here's what came out.
It takes three hours to createeach proposal.
I'm doing them on evenings andweekends, and I'm still falling
behind.
Now we're getting somewhere.
But here's where it getsinteresting.
I asked Maria to play the AndThen What?

(01:31):
game with me.
It goes like this.
Proposals take three hours.
And then what?
I have to hunt down all theproduct specs.
And then what?
I have to find them in differentfolders and manufactured
websites.
And then what?
Because we don't have a centralplace to store them.
Ah! Bingo! See what happenedthere?
The proposal software wasn't theproblem at all.

(01:52):
The real issue was a brokenproduct information management
system.
This is why getting to the rootcause is so crucial.
The next question on yourworksheet, How significant is
this problem?
This is where I need you to getreal about impact.
We're talking time.
How many hours per week is thiseating?
Money.
What is it costing you in lostopportunities?

(02:13):
Resources.
How much team energy is itconsuming?
And frequency.
Is this a daily headache ormonthly annoyance?
Here's where Maria had her bigrevelation.
She thought about the time onlyin terms of the 3 hours per
proposal.
But when we dug deeper, wediscovered 3 hours times 2
proposals per week is 6 hours.

(02:34):
Plus 5 hours of team timehunting for updated specs.
Plus another 3 hours fixingmistakes from the outdated
information.
That's 20 hours a week.
At her billing rate, this was a60, 000 per year problem.
And let's not forget to considerthe emotional costs.
Maria was spending every Sundaydoing proposals instead of being
with her family.
That's a cost that won't show upon a spreadsheet, but it matters

(02:56):
just as much.
Last question.
Who's impacted by this problem?
This is where involving yourteam becomes golden.
When Maria asked her team aboutproduct spec issues, she
discovered her designers weremaintaining their own separate
spec spreadsheets.
Her admin was double checkingevery proposal against current
pricing.
Her project manager was fieldingconstant questions about product

(03:17):
availability.
Sometimes the best way to findthe root cause is to ask the
people dealing with the symptomsevery day.
Your team often sees things youdon't, especially if you're the
owner and not always in the dayto day trenches.
So, what happened with Maria?
Well, once we identified thereal problem, no central product
information system, the solutionbecame obvious.
And it wasn't new proposalsoftware.

(03:38):
Instead, we'd set up a digitalproduct library that
automatically updated specs andpricing.
Proposal time?
Dropped to 45 minutes, and herteam stopped maintaining
separate spreadsheets, and shegot her Sundays back.
Here's your homework.
Pick one business frustration,and run it through these three
questions.
What's the specific problem?
How significant is it?

(04:00):
Who's impacted?
And then play the and then whatgame until you hit something
that makes you go, Aha!Remember, get specific about the
problem.
Then quantify the impact anddon't forget to value your own
time.
Then ask your team for insightsand keep digging until you find
the root cause.

(04:20):
Next up, we'll talk about how tomeasure this impact in a way
that makes the decision toinvest in a solution.
Ready to find out what's reallybroken in your business?
Download that worksheet atFieryEffects.
com slash choose and let's startsolving the real problems, not
just the symptoms.