Wisdom

I gave a talk last week and told the audience at the start that I couldn’t even begin to cover all I knew about the subject in an hour. However, I would provide something even better; wisdom. To me, wisdom isn’t knowing the answers. It’s knowing what questions to ask. I tried to illustrate that point but I’m never sure how much registers. As example, some time back I took over a company that refurbished ATMs and sold them to credit unions and small banks. This was a market avoided by the big companies because they’d buy one or two units and it’s difficult to make money at that volume. Shortly after I assumed control, an employee brought me a brochure for a credit union trade show. We barely made money exhibiting at it but it was one of the best marketing efforts we’d had. So, the answer sought was if we would go to it this year or not. The answer was almost irrelevant since the outcome wouldn’t affect our outcomes significantly one way or the other. Instead, I asked the question, how can we reach this market at little or no cost? I won’t bore you with the creative problem solving process. What I arrived at was printing a pamphlet on how small financial institutions could increase their profitability through an ATM program. I told all the state credit union associations that I would make it available as a free public service. All that had to do was let me know how many they wanted for their members. The response was overwhelming. I shipped them in bulk to the associations, who inserted them in their newsletters and other mailers they sent out to their members, which made them look good. It spared me list rental, postage and lettershop expense and, as a big plus, carried the implied endorsement of the associations that mailed them out. Of course, the pamphlet had my company’s logo and contact information. It was a very profitable promotion and didn’t come from having the right answer to the trade show question. It resulted from asking the right question.