Time and again, one of the most common things I see in presentations is the speaker not spending enough time describing the problem. Plenty of time is almost always spent describing the solution, but not enough attention is given to the description of the problem that started the whole thing.

If you are pitching to someone new, like if you are an entrepreneur trying to make your first sale in a new country, your description of the problem is how you build trust (“Hey, he gets me!”).

If you are a corporate employee, describing the problem is how you demonstrate your knowledge of the big picture. It’s where you make your boss’s boss think, “Hey, we need this person up here instead.”

It reminds me of the Albert Einstein quote, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

In this two-minute short from the podcast, Berk Temuroğlu goes into the importance of spending time describing the problem:

If you are wondering why people are so willing to leave so much opportunity on the table, Berk begins to theorize on why here:

BTW, if, from the “more problem” subject line of this email, you got the reference to the famous “more cowbell” skit on Saturday Night Live, congratulations! Ring the bell and be sure to collect your oversized teddy bear. 😉