The Power of Understanding and Solving Problems
Many have made money and built reputations by solving problems. Doctors cure the suffering of illness, psychiatrists help heal the troubled mind, lawyers protect names from being tarnished, consultants offer marketing advice and a dazzling array of products help to remove any inconvenience you might possibly encounter in your daily life.
Many people are solving problems. They’re all offering solutions to people who need them. Some are giving them away for free. Others are selling them for a price. When problem and solution is a perfect fit, a relationship of trust is built between two parties. If this helps me now, it might help me again. If this solves my problem, it might solve my friend’s problem too.
There’s a connection. The problem solver becomes more popular as more problems are solved for more people. Every time you solve a problem in a way that’s better than others, you add undeniable value to the person in need. After performing a search engine query on a topic, what pages do you bookmark? The ones that offer you the best possible solution.
As a business or website owner, you have to face the challenge of getting people to consume what you’re offering, be it free content on your blog, a piece of merchandise or premium service. You’ll have compete with other problem solvers in the market. Other blogs, other companies in the same field, other service providers. All offering different solutions.
For instance, there are many different products to solve the problem of dirty dishes. A plethora of different washing fluids, sponges, machines and racks. In most scenarios, there are more solutions than there are problems. Solutions themselves become problems to be solved.
Most of the time problem-solvers are already engaging your target audience but that doesn’t mean you should stay away. There’s always room for another solution, especially when its one that addresses the problem with more elegance, more force, more precision or more style.
First, identify the problems facing your target audience. Go deep into the user-generated recesses of the web: monitor forums, social networking websites, blogs and places where people interact and talk online. Understand the problem more deeply than your competitor. Go after nuance. Absorb feedback on current solutions. Know what they want but isn’t available.
Then, create a solution that builds on the flaws of other solutions. Or one that completely circumvents the existing paradigm by addressing the problem from a different angle, using different methodology or a combination of existing solutions. Be daring and creative.
Try going wider for broader appeal or swim in narrower channels to reach hardcore fans in order to gain a support base. The same applies to online publications like blogs on specific topics. What problems do your readers have? How are you solving them with your content? If solutions already exist elsewhere, how can you do better so you’ll be the go-to site?
Nobody is able to constantly solve problems in the best possible way to please every single person. All solutions have flaws because consumers evolve. People are also going to look elsewhere because of boredom. But understanding exactly what problems and solutions are out there, allows you to better score points or gain favor with any audience.
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If you build a better mousetrap people will beat a path to your door.
Powerful words, another great article!
The only problems I have ever helped solve are ones related to HTML and CSS XD
You nailed it with, “create a solution that builds on the flaws of other solutions.” There are a few things I have really good solutions for, but finding that special angle can be tough. It’s a good reminder that even the best solution isn’t going to work for everyone. Thanks for making sense out of something that has been nagging me for a while!
As someone that works with small businesses and particularly small business computer consultants and solution providers, I know how vital it is to really be able to identify client problems and provide sophisticated solutions. In fact, it should be the basis of anyone’s business that is in a professional services industry. Solving complex problems for people that make their lives easier and their businesses more profitable is the key to developing long-lasting relationships. And relationships are what drive any professional services business and bring in consistent, steady revenue.
There will always be a need for great teachers, and I am not necessarily referring to the ones that fill our classrooms.
Brilliant article, this definitely addresses a problem many people have while launching products and services, they think they are providing a solution for something but not having researched well enough they have to keep going back to the drawing board because people did not really want whey they were offering.
Very good point.
I was searching for something related to WordPress the other day and didn’t find anything useful on a single website, no matter there are gazillion ones on this subject.
At the end, I figure a better solution out by myself and that obviously turned into a blog post.
And yes, it’s one of my posts that receives a lot of visitors from search engines.
I’m not much of a forum guy, but discussion lists give me ideas very often. They seem to agregate a lot of common issues you wouldn’t discover in any other way.
Good article. Well thought out!
I agree with this article completely. Every business need initiative. I would venture to say that inspite of the countless stories that people use to justify failure, what it comes down to is taking the proper steps to move forward. When looked from a business stand point, consumers are looking to buy, plain and simple. If the are in search for it, they want to buy.
Just like the person behind a failed business that tries to justify their failure with excuses, people need to justify their purchases in their head. They need to know that what they are buying will meet their expectations.
Someone who takes initiative by researching and developing their business to meet the customers needs, will in turn profit from the effort of making their customer comfortable with their purchase.
Great Story, Pleasure reading!!!
Mark Babinaux
progressyourlife.com
j. noronha - can you clarify on the discussion lists - what exactly are these, how do you get on them (email, rss?) and where can I browse some?
“Nobody is able to constantly solve problems in the best possible way to please every single person.”
This is so true in personal finance. There are myriads of different circumstances. Advice for one person can be completely wrong for another. The financial field is busy creating new products and as we can see now, some of them have been disastrous (part of the mortgage crisis due to ‘creative’ and bad mortgages created).
This is an important point, people need to be careful and not be in such a rush to make a quick buck. Often we want to start earning revenue so badly that we become “in your face” with our marketing message and completely forget about building a relationship with the reader and actually helping them by providing solutions for their problems.
Nice post/article.
“Hunger” is the word that pops up for me on the subject of problems and solutions. And the challenge is to satisfy hunger without causing consumer obesity, encouraging buyer bulemia, or some other personal or societal malady.
I understand the nature of meeting people’s hunger through the market place, but ethically and morally, how do we do it without screwing the other person (even in small ways)?
Problems? I was thinking of Microsoft—Now there is a company solving problems we did not know we had.
Dmitry,
I should have been more clear about that, sorry. I mean Google and Yahoo Groups, you can find a couple of good ones, with a little patience.
Yup, I agree with you. We should sharpen our skill as a problem solver continuously
Our business has grown simply because of the problem solver role we are able to provide our industry. I wish I had read this post earlier and used forums and web 2.0 features to find and solve problems, but most of mine came simple from beating my head against walls several times until the solution to my own problem surfaced.
Very well written post, Maki. I admire your choice of words. We all know that the first step is identifying the problems of our target audience…it’s offering the kind of solution that builds on the flaws of other solutions that remains a challenge. =)
How about this…
Some problems are simple to solve.
As a company, and companies in general, you don’t tell customers how to solve the simple problems, you charge for them.
Take starting a website. The basics are straight forward. Anyone can follow a list on how to do this. But how many times do you see companies staking a claim on the knowledge of buying a domain name, or setting up email.
I’m off to write an article on how to do these things. The next time I hear the question “How do I build a website!, I’ll be pointing them to it!
I’ll just add a rule thumb to this post - “The more personal, the more universal.” This is a pretty universal law when applied to solving problems - if you or anyone else has a problem which you believe you’re the only person on earth having it - chances are you’re not. Otherwise I could go on forever on the subject of problems and solving them and the psychology behind it and my philosophy on that matter but it’d get quite huge… maybe I will sometime in my blog. Oh and j. noronha - thanks!
Great information as always, Dosh,
Thanks,
JR
Yeah I guest ur right! Interesting Post I learn a lot of this thnks maki!
Definitely the key to differentiating yourself from others is to be obsessed with providing value-packed solutions, Maki.
The underpinning context to our quest for any information is that it solves a specific problem. This could be technological, lifestyle- related, whatever- it all has the same root.
No matter the precise nature of the question, we want answers. Better still, we want answers which can be directly applied to the problem at hand, with the minimum of fuss and effort.
Providing an abstract solution to a simple problem is worse than providing no solution at all. It confuses and frustrates.
In this world of information overload and torrential facts, the info-consumer wants easily digestible solutions- ones that take minimum effort to make sense of. Unless what you offer satisfies this demand, people will simply continue hunting until they track down what they need.
People are attracted to those problem solvers who are unique. They might entertain us or make us think twice. They might give us a unique insight into an issue or provide us with advice that no one else can.
Above all, we are drawn to them because they provide us with solutions that no one else can quite match.
Whether it be in the offline or online world, if you can feed this fundamental need, then you become the authority figure/ the guru/ the ‘go to’ person- whatever term you use.
And with this status comes differentiation and, ultimately, success within your chosen speciality of information provision.
Really great points you have all made here.
Think about this: When someone uses Google, what are they trying to do? Usually trying to solve a problem. People and search engine users especially are not proactive, they are not looking to head off a problem. They are looking to solve a problem they are already having.
This is not a new concept. Most products are built around solving a problem, not preventing it. The old example being aspirin. It is a solution to a headache. Do you try to find a pill that will prevent you from ever getting a headache, take it every day and keep taking it just in case? No, you wait until you already have one, then you go buy aspirin.
When you solve problems by writing about solutions to specific a problem people are having you are the aspirin to their headache. When you provide even further solutions to multiple problems by providing a product then you make sales.
I happen to know a lot about whitehat social bookmarking techniques. Do people come find me when they are new to Digg and think they can spam their way to the top? No, they come to me when they get banned for stupid Digg tricks.
Conversion rates soar on your sites when you provide solutions to problems. That is what motivates any buyer or subscriber to any form of marketing. With out a problem existing that your visitor needs solved you are just another salesman knocking on their door.
It’s hard to sell ideas, it is easy to sell solutions.
Actually an interesting thing Scott brought - the “instant gratification” syndrome. People don’t want to go deep into a problem and genuinely solve it - they want instant solutions. If they want money - they search for the “magic tool” that will make them rich overnight… they don’t understand that it takes much more - they actually have to spend sometime and go deep and maybe reprogram their whole self.
So yes - the quicker and the more superficial the solutions you provide - the more popular you’ll be (funny thing is the whole “pop” culture is about superficiality).
That’s pretty much the concept of giving a fish and teaching how to fish. I guess in the end of the day there’s place for everyone, but my strong belief is that everyone should actually take the time and learn to fish… eventually, otherwise it’d be a pretty immature, co-dependable situation. And of course I could go one into that for quite some time, but I’d leave that to you for now…
The fact is, there is a much deeper connection between problem and solution.
Identifying a problem and providing the best possible solution is the best way to engage your audience.
I’ve been in the business of building websites for almost 15 years. Over that time most of the competition has been to build better tools for clients to manage their information, better design and better functionality.
Recently I’ve realised that it’s difficult to differentiate onseself in these areas any more. It’s a given that a quality supplier will be able to solve these technical issues. The area that we can differentiate ourselves in today is the strategy and marketing of websites. Many companies that own websites have no idea how their website should be making money for them or what needs it should be solving for their visitors. By helping our clients set up a long term strategy for their site and then helping thm deliver on that promise we can stand out in the market and solve issues for our clients that other companies aren’t looking at.
good and real post, lots of knowledge i got
I love to monitor forums to see why it might targeted audience is having problems with. This allows me to write about anything that those people are needing help with all my blog and will probably help others also. If one person is having a problem that usually tells you the others will be having the same problems.
wow… nice post Maki. It’s great.
I encourage people (and me myself) to solve other’s problem[s] - then people will recognize you as an authority regarding specific matter[s]. :p
Every solution solver keeps bragging that they have the perfect solution. That can be right, but the same problem isn’t always solved by the same solution. Solution development is the key to understand that.
If only someone could help me solve the problem of submitting content as good as this on a regular basis.
Not only is this an informative post but the comments left are as well.
“If you build a better mousetrap people will beat a path to your door” is my favourite quote this week.
I think the most important thing is to absorb feedback on current solutions. Certainly many times we solve problems but after then, we don’t analyze what we did, having an empty idea about the problem we have solved.
Learning from the past experiences could be very useful, it could help you to solve problems in a future…
sometimes, people forget about their problem because don’t know how to solve it. They need to do something to solve it. Thats why i hate some people how run away from their problem.
Good post and first time come to your blog~
Offering a solution to someone’s problem will help in the short term, help them to manage their own problems will help them for their whole life! It’s all in the way you approach the problem. You can tackle any problem if you are in the right frame of mind. It all starts within your own mind! Great post!
a wise man said someday:
a problem you can’t solve is not a problem.
just for thinking ^^
ehm. i guess its good info. We need to understand any problem first and choose the best one to solve it. so far, i believe all people already do that.