Get Smart!: How to Think and Act Like the Most Successful and Highest-Paid People in Every Field

The Systematic Problem-Solving Method

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Product Failure Rates
Sales Improvement Process

The Systematic Problem-Solving Method
Here is a structured/unstructured way of problem solving and decision making developed by experts and think tanks over the years. I have synthesized the best ideas I have discovered into a single simple method that you can use for the rest of your career.
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TEP ONE Define the problem or goal clearly, in writing, on the page in front of you. If you are working with a group, write and rewrite the problem or goal on a flip chart or a whiteboard until everyone agrees, Yes. This is the correct definition of the problem.”
In medicine, they say, Accurate diagnosis is half the cure.”
In business, developing the correct definition of the problem often makes the solution appear obvious.
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TEP TWO Once you have defined the problem or goal clearly, you ask,
“What else is the problem?”
Beware of any problem for which there is only one definition. Define and redefine the problem several different ways to make it more amenable to the correct solution. (Note It maybe not a problem at all but rather an opportunity.)
The worst thing you can do is to come up with a great solution to the wrong problem or to a problem that does not exist.
Product Failure Rates

Fully 80 percent of new products and services fail within twelve months.
The primary reason for this is that companies develop a product that solves a problem that customers don’t have.
It is like the story of the dog food company that invested many millions of dollars developing the perfect dog food—nutritionally balanced in every way. But the product failed in the marketplace. When the product developers were asked what had happened, they replied, The problem was that the dogs hated it.”
Whatever definition of the problem that you settle on is going to determine the direction of the solution. If your problem definition is incorrect, your solution, however brilliant, won’t work.
Sales Improvement Process
In my work with sales organizations, I take them through a systematic process of creative thinking. In almost every case, the number one problem that a business faces is low sales. So I start off with a question, What is the problem?”
The first definition of the problem is usually Our sales are too low.”

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