Hey Trailblazers.

Welcome to Growth Sparks.

Starting with the problem, not the solution, is the key to solving business challenges effectively.

Today I’ll show you how understanding the problem first can lead to better results and faster success.

The biggest mistake people make when solving problems

What I bet on: You get better results when you start from the problem, not from a solution.

I see this all the time: You focus on the solution you think is the best.

This happens more often than you might think.

You pick the solution that seems the best, looks the coolest, or gives you peace of mind (it really depends on who you are).

But did you really stop to think about what the actual problem is? And what is really affecting the outcome?

The easiest way to find the best solution is by first understanding the problem.

What you're doing now:
​Your business is facing a problem and you start searching the web. After hours of searching you go for the solution that looks best on paper.

But there's a catch: it might make you feel safe, thinking this one solution will fix everything.

But that might not be true.

What you should be doing:​
Before you pick a solution, you need to understand the real problem.

If you say things like,

"I’m looking for this solution. Can you help me make it work?", always ask yourself, "Why do I need this solution?"

If you don’t have a clear answer, that’s a sign you need to think more before you act.

And make sure you really know what problem you are solving.

Businesses who do this, are 20-60% more likely to be successful.

If you have a system like this, your speed will also get much better.

And it will give you a better chance of success.

Let me give you an example for an e-commerce website that has a cart abandonment rate of 75% (the industry average is 60%):

1. Pinpoint the problem

You have a cart abandonment rate of 75%, and you want to lower it to 65% in three months.

2. Research Root Causes

Ask "Why?" five times.

Why are customers abandoning their carts?​
Because they are surprised by extra costs at checkout.

Why are they surprised by additional costs?​
Because shipping fees don’t show up until the last step.

Why aren't shipping fees displayed earlier?​
Because the system can’t calculate shipping until everything is in the cart.

Why can't the system calculate shipping earlier?​
Because the website wasn’t set up to do that.

Why wasn't it set up initially?​
Because people didn’t realize how important it is to show pricing clearly.

Root cause: Lack of transparent pricing early in the shopping process.

3. Outline Solutions

Potential solutions:

1. Show a flat-rate shipping fee on every product page.
2. Offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount.
3. Create a shipping calculator that shows costs by zip code.

Chosen solution: Offer free shipping on orders over $50 and show it clearly on all pages.

Action plan:

• Update the website to show "Free shipping on orders over $50" on every page.
• Create a marketing campaign to promote this new deal.
• Update the checkout to apply free shipping automatically.
• Change pricing to include shipping costs.

4. Bring Solutions to Life

• Put the free shipping deal into action.
• Track cart abandonment every day.
• Ask customers what they think through surveys.

After one month, the cart abandonment rate drops to 68%.
After three months, it drops further to 63%.

This example shows how the PROB method works for a real business problem.

It helps you make a big improvement in performance and focus on solutions that really work.

Pro Tip: Make sure you can track everything you do from then onwards. Also: keep a record of everything you learned.

It will improve your decision-making dramatically and you will get better at solving problems in the future.

And your business will grow faster.

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What I Liked About My Feed

1

Here's some advice from someone who built 3 startups: let the market pull. Don't force your idea on your customer.

2

Efficiency is not a top three measurement for Marketing: Pipeline, ARR and MQLs are still the focus in B2B.

3

Benji Taylor @benjitaylor ‘You can just do things’ is a great phrase, but you can also do too many things, resulting in not ending up doing anything at all 6:48 PM • Mar 3, 2025 24 Retweets 325 Likes Read 17 replies

​

Sometimes doing 1 thing at a time could actually be helpful.

P.S.

This used to be me in college 😂

Full Steam Ahead!

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