The Importance of Why?

Children use the question "WHY?" frequently, almost instinctively:

• WHY can't they have something, do something, say something, eat something?
• WHY do they have to brush their teeth, learn to read, say thank you, go to school?
• WHY are dinosaurs not alive anymore, is the earth round, the grass green, the cat soooo fluffy?

Kids ask WHY to learn and to make sense of the world and their place in it. Then WHY do we not use it A LOT more in our professional lives?

• WHY are we doing it this way, is our inbound traffic not increasing, are we not using our data to plan the business?
• WHY do you want to do it this way, do you think this will increase sales, are we targeting that specific audience?

The answers to all of the above WHY’s help make sense of your business and increase revenue. The answers should drive planning and prioritization and will greatly help you manage your budget effectively.

Just as important, are the retrospective WHY’s.

• WHY did our revenue not grow, is our data telling a different story than expected, did you decide to work with another agency?

Ask theses hard questions to learn and to make changes based on the answers. Ask these and your next set of WHY’s will flip:

• WHY did our revenue grow, do we want to tell this story with the data, did you decide to work with us?

Questioning plans, processes and data, while reflecting on previous decisions will ensure you are setting your business up for success.

Never stop asking WHY?