If you step away from this for a minute and look at this process from a different perspective, it looks a lot like diving into solutions...and one of the key principles of Helping Clients Succeed is Move off the Solution.  I never really looked at brainstorming in this way until a friend mentioned CHANGE YOUR QUESTIONS CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Marilee Adams.  Often when someone mentions a book, I jot down the title and check it out the next time I am snooping around on Amazon.

I bought and read the book and had an “aha.”  The author suggests that when brainstorming; focus on making a list of questions vs. answers or solutions.  She calls this Q-storming.  Now at first this might seem like a trivial thought—but try it.  Mahan and I did.  We were working on a very complex sales situation with a client and we decided to give this a try.