It goes against the grain, especially for those of us used to business at the speed of light. But bear with me. Im not trying to teach you Zen philosophy. But I am going to show you how working backward can move your business forward.

Lets start with a purchase. Thats a great place to be, isnt it? The moment when your prospect has become your customer. When money changes hands and your widget or service finds a new home. Its beautiful.

But what got your customer to this point?

I can actually hear a few of you saying, Who cares? All that matters is that shes here. Well, that attitude may work for a garage sale. Or even a going out of business sale. But if you want more customers, and more moments like this one, it really helps to know what got us here.

So you can do it all over again.

Go ahead and ask her some questions. Get her to fill out a survey. Analyze your web logs. Act like a secret agent if you have to and find out what brought her to you. Find out things like:

How did you hear about us? You absolutely have to know what methods of promotion are working, and what isnt. Otherwise you waste money.

Of course, there are ways to track responses to your marketing without asking. If youre using direct response. If your ad/ commercial/ sales letter asks your prospect to call, use a different number for each ad. Then see which ads bring in the most phone calls. Use coupons, and put a code on each one that tells you where it ran. Have special landing pages on your web site for each and every ad or commercial you run, and track the traffic.

Now you can see what marketing messages are working, and should be increased. And, what isnt working. That you can cut out.

What made you choose us over our competitors? You both know competitors exist, so theres no point in denying it. But your customer has rejected them in favor of you. Why?

Use what you discover here to differentiate yourself in your marketing. That doesnt mean attacking your competitors. It just means calling attention to your more favorable aspects.

What put you in the market for a widget? Find out what problem your product or service is solving. Dont just guess, get the facts. You may be surprised at what you discover. Use this powerful information to craft sales messages that speak to the needs of your prospects.

There are all kinds of ways to get this information. If you have a retail store, you can train your employees to strike up a conversation and ask. You can always give out surveys, and a few customers will fill them out. Offering an incentive, like a discount on their next purchase, is a great way to get more.

Finding out what led your customer to your cash register takes a bit of time and effort. But once you know where the journey started, you can meet others there. And youll have a much better idea how to guide them to a purchase of their own!