September 18, 2019
We need what you do!
Imagine the following conversation between you and a new prospect:
Client: “We need X!”
You: “Awesome! I DO X!!!”
Client: “Great! Do some X for us!!!!!”
You: “Sure!!!!!!!” (...gets busy doing X...)
What’s missing here?
You didn’t find out why they want X in the first place!
- What if X is the wrong thing to do?
- What is the client hoping to achieve from having X done?
- How will the client judge the success of you doing X?
- What result would make the client jump for joy?
- Is there an easier way to make the client jump for joy than doing X?
Without knowing what the client is hoping to achieve, you can’t confidently say that you’re going to leave them better off than you found them.
This is a scope creep nightmare waiting to happen. There is no success metric. There is no way to declare victory. They is no clear way to validate that their investment was a good one.
Also, you can’t value price the engagement if you don’t know what their desired business outcome is. All you have to go on is the deliverables that they requested, which encourages “time and materials” pricing (i.e., hourly billing).
How do you find out why the client wants X in the first place? Have The Why Conversation with them in the sales interview.
Yours,
—J