The Henry Ford problem

A few months ago my buddy Siva dragged me to this hole-in-the-wall burger place, which was 13 km away.

I remember this like yesterday because this was the week Siva had come back from Canada after a year.

He told me that this will be the best burger I’ll ever have, so I was expecting a decent burger and maybe some good fries.

Instead, I ended up in a two-hour conversation with a Series A startup CEO who Siva casually introduced as "someone you should meet."

Thanks for the heads up, Siva.

Anyway, this guy starts telling me about his conversion problems. I'm trying to be polite, you know? Just nodding along while my burger gets cold.

"So what kind of copy do you need?" I finally asked.

Big mistake.

He launched into this whole thing about wanting "punchy headlines" and "conversion-focused landing pages" and "email sequences that really bring in big conversions."

I nodded. Took notes on my phone. (I didn’t use the obvious napkin because this isn’t 1990s.)

Later that night I built a proposal around exactly what he asked for.

A week later: "Thanks, but we're going in a different direction."

Ouch.

Here's what I realized later.

The guy didn't need punchy headlines. His conversion problem wasn't copy at all. It was positioning. They were trying to sell enterprise software to SMBs and wondering why nobody was buying.

But he couldn't see that. All he saw was low conversion rates, and he figured better copy would fix it.

Classic Henry Ford problem.

First off, I coined this, but feel free to use it to prove a point. But always credit it back to me.

So, if Ford had asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. Not cars.

Your clients do the same thing. They see symptoms and ask for Band-Aids instead of surgery.

That startup CEO saw poor conversions and asked for better copy. What he actually needed was a complete messaging overhaul and a new target market.

I've made this mistake dozens of times.

The client says they need a new website. What they really need is traffic.

The client says they need better email copies. What they really need is a proper segmentation strategy.

Here's how I do it now:

Instead of "What kind of copy do you need?" I ask, "What's not working in your business right now?"

Instead of "What pages need updating?" I ask, "Where are you losing potential customers?"

Instead of "What's your budget for copywriting?" I ask, "How much revenue are you missing because of this problem?"

Different questions get you to the real problem.

And when you solve real problems instead of surface-level requests, three things happen:

Now go back and look at your last three client conversations.

What did they ask for? What problem were they actually trying to solve? How different are those two things?

I bet you'll find some gaps. Big ones.

Next time someone wants "better copy," dig deeper. Ask what's broken. Ask where they're bleeding money. Ask what success would actually look like.

Then solve that problem.

Your bank account will thank you.

Talk soon,
— Shashank

P.S.

The first ever batch of the brand engine masterclass is gonna launch coming monday. I’m way too excited for this.

Happy weekend!