Keep Asking Questions

While it may be framed as an important life lesson, continuing to ask questions is also part of the core process of fine-tuning your message.

Even when filling out the brief, you're trying to understand more and more about the audience and their real pains and potential gains - so you can find their motivation and match the message, copy, and material accordingly.

Most founders will provide an answer that works for them, but it doesn't necessarily work for their audience, their decision-maker, or their end-user. It states what they do, but it won't make clear why it's so valuable - why it's a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.

So keep digging even after they answer your question. Dig, because there are more insights in there, more depth to the problem, and more whys left to answer.

The simplest method is the "Five Whys" used in problem-solving, which uncovers layer after layer without accepting any answer at face value.

You get some information and ask "Why?" That leads to its own answer and more information. Based on that, rework the next "Why?" and dig deeper - and so on. You'll learn new things and go in directions you hadn't even considered at the start. It will also shed new light for those founders who thought the original answer was sufficient. It gets them to look at their problem from an angle they'd never considered before.

But it isn't just about asking why - it's about constructing the question to probe areas you're unsure of, unaware of, and haven't been able to pin down. There are always plenty of other questions that can paint a bigger picture.

Just keep asking questions...and more questions.