The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field

by Mike Michalowicz

The Wish List is not about you—how you can improve, how awesome you are. The Wish list is about your clients, and what they need to grow their own giant pumpkin. When you interview your clients, ask questions about your industry, not your company. Ask questions about their aspirations, challenges, short-term and long-term goals. Ask questions that will help you learn more about their business and their industry beyond what directly affects your company. To get you started, here are a few questions I use in client interviews: 1. What is your chief complaint about your industry? Your clients? Other vendors? 2. If you could do it easily, what would you change about your industry? Your clients? Other vendors? 3. What is your biggest challenge right now? 4. What would need to change so you could finish work an hour earlier every day? 5. What would you like to accomplish in the near future? 6. Where do you hope to be in five years? Ten? Twenty? 7. What frustrates you about vendors in my industry? What do you wish vendors in my industry would do differently? 8. If you could tweak the products or services my industry provides to better suit your needs, what would you change? 9. What is most confusing about my industry? 10. What do you wish vendors in my industry would offer?