A Guide for Asking Uncomfortable Questions

A Guide for Asking Uncomfortable Questions | Leadership | Emeritus

How many times have you shied away from asking a particular question because you thought it was uncomfortable? Did the fear of offending your conversation partners make you lose out on the opportunity of feeding your curiosity about something? But for a growth marketing expert, Brad Batesole, putting startups on the hot seat has never been a big deal.
He often incorporates difficult questions in a conversation, like where you get the money and what makes you different. These rapid-fire questions often enable companies to dwell upon areas that they have not put much thought into. He takes startup founders to a territory about which decisions were taken or not taken.
This article will help you understand how uncomfortable questions can help startup founders walk toward the direction of growth.

The Importance of Asking Uncomfortable Questions

The significance of asking hard questions lies in understanding what’s clicking and what’s not. You must be prepared to learn things that might not make you thrilled. Sometimes you need to take a deeper look inward to gauge the justification behind the answers to uncomfortable questions.
Conduct interviews with customers and put out all the hard questions in the open. Isn’t customer satisfaction your key priority? Then, don’t stop them from being brutally honest about what they think about you.
The answers often help you understand the psychology with which your customer base is interacting with your brand. In fact, you can also talk to customers who don’t purchase from you or customers who have abandoned you after a certain point in their journey.



The Questions That You Need to Ask

Some top questions that you need to ask your customers are as follows:

Do You Use Our Product/Service Frequently?

Your customers might like your product or service. However, it does not equate with them caring about your brand. They might not be using it or letting an acquaintance know how much they like it. Learning how frequently your customers purchase your products will help you determine whether they value them.
When customers purchase your product/service at regular intervals, you will understand that you have some loyal people interacting with your brand. But some customers might only be purchasing your product/service when they are unable to find its counterpart from their preferred brand. In that case, you will know that a customer is not excited about your offerings.

What Is the Most Crucial Benefit That You Get from Our Product/Service?

Your product/service might be offering multiple benefits to customers. The point of asking this question is to understand which particular benefit pertains the most to your audience. The answers to this question will also help you determine whether your customers are aware of the strong points of your product/service.
Is there any particular benefit that you want your customers to focus on? In that case, you need to modify your marketing efforts and emphasize one benefit in particular.

Do You Prioritize Cost Reduction or Productivity Enhancement?

This particular question is crucial for B2B marketers. You should know that B2B buyers typically prioritize productivity over price. Therefore, there’s only one right answer to this question, and that’s productivity enhancement.
However, your customers might be choosing cost reduction as a priority. In that case, you will have to understand that price is a market pain point for your product. Lowering your prices and offering discounts will help you retain your existing customers. On the contrary, offering no price incentive to customers as a response to this feedback will make you experience a high churn rate.

Why Did You Choose or Leave Us for Our Competitor?

The performance of a business has a lot to do with its competitive advantage. When your buyers answer why they chose you, it reveals the unique value of your brand. You will understand the reason behind their loyalty to your brand.
When customers who have abandoned you answer this question, you will have a fair idea of what your competitors are doing better than you. It will provide you with a heavy scope of improvement and the ability to win them back by fulfilling or exceeding their expectations.

Let Emeritus Be Your Guide and Principal

Now, you are probably aware of the importance of uncomfortable questions to witness growth. But if you need more valuable insights regarding growth and success, Emeritus India has an array of best-in-class executive leadership courses from the best B-Schools for you to discover.

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