Your solution needs to be designed so that it solves a very real and current problem. This problem could be addressing a frustration, a fear, a desire, a passion. There are a lot of ways a solution solves a problem.
Let’s look at a few examples of how a solution might solve a problem:
The solution may solve a problem of convenience – my friend gets her car washed while she goes shopping. She has the ability to wash her car herself at home if she wanted or she could take it to a drive through car wash but all those things take time. My friend is a busy lady and she prefers to pay for the convenience of having someone else do it for her while she’s doing her shopping which knocks over the task without taking up any more of her time.
The solution may solve a problem of lack of knowledge or expertise – recently I hired a carpenter to build a deck and a pergola because I don’t have the technical expertise to be able to do that myself. Regardless of how much money or time I had, I couldn’t complete this job because I don’t have the skills.
The solution may remove a frustration – a colleague of mine recently set up a new website. She originally started building the site herself. She doesn’t have experience in building websites. She’s intelligent enough and there’s enough resources available on the web for her to work through the process slowly and learn and she goes. But it was incredibly frustrating. Every second day she came up against a challenge. In the end, to remove the frustration, she decided to hire a developer.
The solution may appeal to a desire – recently I bought a new pair of earrings. I had no intention of buying earrings that day. I have at least 30 other pairs so I definitely don’t need any more. I was at a market, I saw the earrings and I liked them. I knew I wasn’t ever coming back to the market so I had to make a spur of the moment decision about whether to buy them then, or miss out forever. I decided to buy.
Today’s challenge is to identify what problems, challenges, needs, passions or fears are you solving for your customers. How do you solve these needs? How do you make them feel? How are you improving their lives? How are you making things more convenient for them? How are you making their lives easier or better? What are you offering that no other business offers? What is unique and special about you?
By answering these questions you can identify your unique offering and craft a specific solution for your customers most common problems.