The goal of the question is to help audience members figure out how to convey WHY they do...WHAT they do.

Now before I continue, I just want to say that the book, START WITH WHY (Sinek) is a wonderful book and makes a valid point. However, figuring out your "WHY" is not as important as figuring out THEIR "Why."

Who is THEY?

THEY are the folks who are considering "buying" your product and/or service. THEY are your prospective customers, clients, and patients.  

If you stop and think about this perspective for a second, you will begin to find clarity in understanding that the reason or reasons that YOU do what YOU do, is less important (much less important) than WHY they will or will not want what you have to offer. Put another way, IT'S ABOUT THEM... not YOU!

When you ask BETTER "Why" questions, you receive BETTER answers. The answers that you'll receive will arrive in the form of characteristics of human behavior. 

For decades, the focus of market research had been (and in many cases, still is) on demographics. Campaigns would target genders that were segmented by age and socioeconomic status. The  result was a multitude of nothing more than generalized marketing campaigns. Translated, the marketing message was "sort of" what might interest those receiving the message, but nothing that would drive them off the couch, and give them an uncontrollable desire to purchase a product or engage a service.

Whether you are selling lemonade from a sidewalk lemonade stand, or selling rocket engines to NASA, the BETTER questions should focus on WHY a prospective buyer DOESN'T want certain features and benefits, and then WHY that same prospective buyer DOES want certain features and benefits (in that order).

Most folks who are shopping, whether it be for a glass of lemonade or rocket engines, know more about what they don't want than what they DO want. WHY is that the case?

ANSWER: Elimination!

Life teaches us more about what we DON'T want than what we DO want. Therefore, knowing what prospective customers, clients, and patients don't like, tells us more about what they do like.

The BETTER "Why" questions don't stop there. The BETTER "Why" questions ask WHY they don't like...what they don't like. The reason WHY someone doesn't like something gives us information about WHY they DO like what they like.

EXAMPLE:

Susie: "I don't like ventilated seats in an automobile!"

Researcher: "WHY don't you like ventilated seats in an automobile?"

Susie: "They just suck."

Researcher: "WHY do they suck? What don't you like about ventilated seats?"

Susie: "I don't like how crumbs get caught in those little perforated holes!"

At first glance, you might think this to be a foolish, meaningless conversation. I wouldn't disagree....EXCEPT for the fact that the information that we are able

to draw from this commentary is quite valuable.

We know that Susie likes to "dine" in her automobile (as do many of us on the way to work, or as we are working our way through our list of THINGS TO DO). We know that Susie doesn't dislike ventilated seats, rather, a feature of the ventilated seats.

If the conversation had stopped after Susie stated that she disliked ventilated seats, then the information wouldn't be revealing the ENTIRE story.

As an automotive manufacturer, I could obsess over telling you (the consumer) about our WHY...and WHY a characteristic of our WHY is that we really enjoy providing the consumer with ventilated seats (lol).

As a SMART researcher, you might tap the automotive manufacturer on the shoulder and inform them that consumers appreciate ventilated seats (especially during the  toasty summer months where a hot leather seat is just no fun), but not necessarily HOW the seats are actually ventilated.

THE LESSON: When you ask BETTER "Why" questions, the return on that investment is more detailed information that creates a stronger bond between the marketer and the consumer. The stronger the bond, the greater the likelihood of that individual becoming a lifelong customer, client, and patient.