Dealing With 'Quality Problems'

Great thinkers, leaders, and innovators aren't afraid to turn their thinking on its head. They simply keep asking, "What if […] goes the other way?" If you use this tool, you'll identify challenges and points of possible failure so you can develop a plan to prevent or mitigate them ahead of time.

Here are some Inversion Thinking questions:

1. Imagine your entire business has failed.

Every client has gone. What went wrong? What mistakes did you make? How did you make it fail?

2. What if everything goes better than you could imagine?

You have more clients than you dreamed you would, more assets under management than you ever thought you would and you're generating more revenue than you could have imagined. But they keep coming and you have no more capacity to service them. You're getting NIGOs and application rejections by the bushel. What went wrong? How could you have been better prepared?

3. Imagine the most important goal or project you are working on right now has completely failed.

What went wrong? What mistakes did you make? How did it fail?

4. Your entire team quits on you.

What was wrong with your leadership? How did you fail them? Where did you fail to innovate? Where did you fail to be prepared for massive change in your field?

5. What could alienate your dream clients?

How could you scare away the community you've built? What would cause you to go back to the days where you were constantly struggling to bring in new business?

6. What could completely distract you every day?

How could you create and encourage constant interruptions that would lead to your failure? How could you constantly put urgent tasks ahead of important ones? How could you let email and social media run your day?

Pick any one of these scenarios, grab a journal, and create business nightmares. Then, create a plan that will prevent them. In the midst of preparing for disaster are the seeds of an idea for your next level of success.

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Sandy Schussel has been a coach and practice development consultant for insurance and financial professionals for the past 20 years. He is an approved MDRT coach and has served as the national sales training director for First Investors and Foresters. He is the author of two books, The High Diving Board, about overcoming fear and Become A Client Magnet, about attracting and keeping clients. Schussel's scheduling calendar is available.