Getting To A Smarter Yes

There is something I've noticed in both events and business.  A client brings a difficult problem to an expert..  And sometimes the first response is a list of reasons it can't be done.  The budget isn't enough.  The space won't work.  The timeline is too tight.  The logistics are complicated.  That's not our process.  That's not how it's usually done.  Sometimes NO is absolutely the right answer. However, expertise should expand our options, not shrink them.

   Experience should tell you when an idea is unrealistic, financially irresponsible or simply won't work.  But experience should also give you more ways to solve a problem.  In my own business,  I've dealt with a venue closing two weeks before a wedding, twenty four bridesmaids with the wrong size dress.  A professional football team who refused wedding guests access to a rooftop ceremony.  Family and cultural conflicts that erupted the night before a wedding.  None of those situations was pushed away or ignored because I said they could not be solved.  They improved because I asked:  “What Can I Do?”

   The same question matters in business.  If a space isn't selling, what else could it become?  If customers aren't buying, where are we losing them?  If a process isn't working, why are we protecting the process?  If the budget won't support Plan A, what is the smartest Plan B?  Expertise isn't agreeing to everything.  And it certainly isn't promising the impossible.  It's knowing enough to distinguish between impossible and we haven't found the answer yet.  The value of an expert isn't how many reasons they can give you for saying no.  It's how many ways they know to look for a smarter yes.