Last week I participated in the Sales Day of Service a very cool, powerful initiative where experienced businesspeople, coaches etc. volunteer an hour of their time to support women, immigrant, and minority business owners with free sales and business coaching.

I met with an amazing woman who's starting something I'd never heard of; she's an end-of-life doula. She helps families navigate the emotional, logistical, and human complexities of the dying process. Important, beautiful work. 

And like every business… well, she needs customers. (I joked with her technically, they are everywhere.) 

We talked about the two sides of the business: marketing (getting inbound inquires) and outbound which she hadn't done anything with yet.  

So, where to start? 

Her first idea? Visit five senior care facilities and offer to give a talk. 

My advice. Yes… and go one step further. Become a detective.

If this is where her clients and their families are, then this is where the answers are, too. What’s the process to partner? Who makes the decisions, who do you talk to? What are the rules? What's missing that they wish someone could offer?

You don't need to have it all figured out yet, you need to learn. (And don't feel like this somehow makes you look bad, it does not! It makes you look like a consultant.)
Ask questions. Ask weird ones. Ask ones that feel too obvious.
Be curious. Go for No creatively. 

The answer for how her business will grow already exists, she just has to be willing to go find it.

Go for No is not just for "sales." You don't have to guess your way to success!
The answers are out there you just have to be willing to go ask, listen, and dig a little.

Be the one who’s curious enough to find out what actually works.