The Six Magic Questions

Hi everyone, this is Wayne Rivers at FBI and We Build Better Contractors.

This week, I want to talk about the six magic questions. So, a few weeks ago, well, just maybe two weeks ago, we did the
seven tips for asking great questions. And we generated lots of comments because I kind of alluded to my six go-to
questions and these questions took a long time to put together in the sequence that we did them. And I'd like to say that
I invented, I think what I did was I recombine questions, great questions that I'd learned from other people read about,
take learned about in training classes, that kind of thing. So, what about this is important to you? Why are we going back
to this issue of questions? Well, these questions apply to life, to business, to construction, and I think you can them in
almost any context to really dive deep and learn about people, your potential customers, et cetera, et cetera.

So, we'll see what you think I'd like to hear from you in the comments. Okay. The first question is, what do you have too
much of? Man, that's a short question. And you'll notice that when you ask these questions, people will stop, and they'll
stare up at the ceiling for a minute and they'll reflect before they begin to answer. They're really, really good questions.
They have to exert some mental energy to come up with answers that are even satisfying to them. So, what do you have
too much of? Now I'm going to circle back and talk about how to use this in the context of construction.

Second question is what do you have too little of? You're going to get a lot more answers to question number two than
you did to question number one. Question number one is like what do we have too much of? Well, opportunities, delays
on our projects, uncertainty about supply change. What do you have too little of? Time, always the number one answer.
Certainty in these times today, people to do all the work we need to do, experience people too little is going to generate
tons and tons of answers. The third one, what are your frustrations? Well, you can imagine this is going to open up a bunch
of answers. Fourth one, this is a question that Dennis always used back in the day. If you could wave a magic wand and
anything you want could happen, what would you wish for?

The fifth one is a question that I liberated from Dan Sullivan at Strategic Coach. And that is what are the dangers that face
you over the next 24 months? So, then you start thinking about, "Oh golly, my best estimator is going to retire at the end
of this year and I just don't know what to do." So, something along those lines and the sixth question you really have to
think about. So maybe we should list the questions in a separate link so that you can download them because you really
want the wording on this one to be precise, okay. Question six, if we weren't going to talk again for three years, so from
the date of this video, parenthetically, it would be October of 2024. So, we weren't going to talk again for three years, that
would make it October of 2024. What would had to have happened during that period of time for you to feel happy about
your progress?

So, you can see that question would work in a personal level. It's a question that a psychologist might ask and there again,
this is a Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach question. Okay, now let's translate these to a construction project. So, your BD
person is out with a potential construction buyer, an owner, and they want to apply these questions. So, with respect to
your last construction project, what did you have too much of? Delays, filthy job site, poor communication. We had too
much communication on the job sites and not enough communication with between owners and owners of the
construction side. Second question, what do you have too little of? Well, we had too little communication that always
comes up. We had too little insight into the schedule and potential delays. These questions can apply in any context. The
third one, what are your frustrations? The job site stayed filthy. The contractor went days and days without having trades
on the job site, whatever it happens to be.

Fourth thing, if you had a magic wand, well, this is going to be big. If I had a magic wand, I would go poof and my building
would be complete and perfect and okay. Now what about other things that might, you might have a little control? So,
you might have to drill down a little bit to get the answers that you want. The fifth thing, what are the dangers that face
you? Well, if I don't get this new plan up and running, then we're going to lose X revenue. My job is in jeopardy. If we don't
get this new classroom building done, then we have 100,000 kids in this school district that are moving around from year
to year and we won't get things done. So that's.... You can see dangers is a big question.

And if we weren't going to talk again for three years and so it's an October of 2024, what would have to have happened
for you to feel happy about your progress? Well, this project is done, and I've got two more behind it and we really need
somebody that we can go to the drive schedule and keep it sticks to the budget and all these other things. So, you can do
a deep dive analysis of a family business, which is how I use these in sort of a construction business. You can use them in
a personal level if you're talking to your kids, if you're talking to a friend who may be in distress and you can certainly use
them in almost any context.

So, I'd like to hear one, what do you think about this as a six go-to questions to use in business development or in
construction in general? And the second thing is, what questions have you used successfully? What are your go-to
questions that really elicit deep thoughtful responses from the people that you interact with? This is Wayne Rivers at The
Family Business Institute, and We Build Better Contractors.