“Find your why.”
 
You’ve probably heard this phrase a lot lately. It’s been a best-selling book and discussed at the highest levels of management strategy.
 
The concept of “find your why” focuses on what motivates you to be an elite employer, entrepreneur, etc.
 
Clearly articulated, your why gets everyone on your team caring about the same things in their hearts, souls and minds.
 
It sounds great. And it is.

Your customer will never care that you find your why.

They don’t care about what motivates you. They don’t care about your origin story or your employee perks or how you feel about work/life balance.

They care about themselves, solving the problem they have and why choosing you will make their lives better starting tomorrow.

A quest to find your why won’t answer that question for them. A commitment to having answers for  why you will. 

And if you don’t have those answers why you, your why won’t matter much because you’ll have no customers.

Your why you  keeps people listening.

This is different than a value proposition: a single statement that gets people interested. The value proposition usually sits at the top of a website. The good ones describe the perfect future state of being:

  • Slack makes it downright pleasant to work together.
  • Anyone anywhere can start a business with Shopify.
  • Tortuga Backpacks: Pack light. Go Further.
  • Give yourself the gift of sleep in Nested Bean pajamas.

A good value proposition will answer the first iteration of why you: why should I give you more than two seconds of my time?

If you get that right, the next question is “why should I believe you?” Now you need a different but equally compelling answer.

Then you’ll need others for “why they should I believe in you,” “why are you worth what you’re charging,” and “why will my life be better tomorrow with you in it?”

The sum total of those answers are your Hooklines.

The idea that companies need Hooklines came to me at a big technology conference in downtown Toronto. I went down to the trade show floor and walked up and down the aisles to get a feel for all the companies that bought a booth at the show. Then I went back to the beginning and approached the first booth.

“Tell me about yourself,” I said.

“Well,” said the young woman at the booth, “we do blah, blah blah.”

“Interesting,” I said. “I saw four booths over there by the back door that do the exact same thing you do. So tell me; why you?”

I don’t know what compelled me to ask the question that way. It seemed rather direct and confrontational coming out of my mouth, but I realized that those same words cross the minds of every prospect when making their purchase decisions. The difference is that the companies under consideration rarely get the chance to answer.

But this time, they did. And not one person at any booth had an answer.

That’s when I thought it would be a good idea for front line sales teams to have a simple page of actual answers to all the iterations of why you?

By all means, find your why.

Having an intrinsic motivation to do what you do will help you wake up ready to go every morning. It could probably galvanize your team under a single vision. And it would be the subject of great content you could add to the Everest-like mountain of people telling the world what their “why” is and why it matters.

But before you get on that quest to find your why, have a set of Hooklines that clearly articulates all the answers to why you?