The Answer Is Meat

I listen to a nationally syndicated radio show in the morning and it’s a little bit of fun and a lot of sometimes racy humor. It’s so entertaining that it gets my day going.

On a recent show, the host played a game called “the answer is meat.” He repeated this phrase over and over. Then he would ask a simple question like, “what color is the sky” and the caller would respond “blue.” The host would say, that’s the wrong answer. The answer is meat. Next caller. He’d ask how many states in the US, and the caller would say, “50.” Once again he’d say, “that’s the wrong answer, the answer is meat.” This went on for at least 5 or 6 callers and different questions. I, of course, am yelling at the radio, “the answer is meat!!!!” And even between calls, he continues to say, “the answer is meat” and how he couldn’t believe no one had won yet. Neither could I!

And then it dawned on me. This is what we do as entrepreneurs. How many times have you talked with your clients or prospects and heard them say, “The answer to my problem/challenge/issue is X.” And then we proceed to tell them what WE think the answer is! Over and over again, we hear the answer and turn our attention to what we think everyone wants to hear.

In a recent discussion with an incredibly talented young woman entrepreneur, she relayed a story of how she is working to build her business so that she can leave her corporate gig. And she connected with others in her field (smart) to learn what to do so that she can “grow and go.” So when we connected and she shared her approach and I asked how the advice she was receiving was working for those who were guiding her. She didn’t know. I knew that “the answer was meat” but I wasn’t sure that those guiding her did. They are giving her what they did and believe that’s also the answer to her question.

So how do you hear “the answer is meat” from your leads, prospects and clients?

Ask them to describe the problem/challenge/issue in as many ways as it takes so that you have:

– A crystal clear picture of the problem so that you can describe it back to the client and get a resounding, “YES, that’s it!”

– A vision of the solution that solves the problem for the client, such that there is a huge smile on their faces as you deliver it! (And yes, you can “hear” a smile!)

– And finally, you want to have the ability to repeat “the answer is X” and hear the client’s words coming from YOUR mouth.

Isn’t it fascinating how a radio challenge can present such a clear roadmap that we can use to help our clients achieve results when working with us? And so that they continue to work with us! All this by just recognizing, “the answer is meat.”

For those who have to know the end of the story, yes, someone finally got through and gave him the RIGHT answer! smile