July 16, 2024
The Risk of “Educating” The Client
POP QUIZ!
Here’s a “yes or no” question for you:
Q: Do you think that prospects want to hear that the solution they asked you for is the wrong one and that what they actually need is something bigger and more expensive?
. . . . .
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. . .
. .
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No. The answer is always no.
Nobody wants to hear this.
It’s bad news.
So...
If you have a prospect sitting across from you who’s asking for a bandaid when what they really need is stitches (metaphorically speaking), you’ve got a branching network of decisions to make.
The first one is whether to:
1) Sell them what they asked for and send them on their way, or 2) Explain that, in your professional opinion, they need a more painful and expensive solution
If you choose the first option, then you sell them the bandaid, they are happy with you and they leave.
But let’s say you choose the second option and give them your professional opinion.
The client will then either:
3) Disagree with you and demand the bandaid, or 4) Agree with you and accept the stitches
If they choose 3 (i.e., “Gimme the dang bandaid, like I asked!”), you have a new decision to make...
Sell them the bandaid because you warned them and it’s their risk to take, OR you refuse to sell them the bandaid for ethical reasons and send them away. Either way, they leave at this point.
But if they choose 4 above (i.e., “Fine, give me the stitches, even though I don’t want them!”), you have created a risk for yourself.
How so?
Well...
If the stitches don’t work out well due to unforeseen complications...
...or they later hear from someone else who they consider reputable that a bandaid should have been fine...
...then they are going to feel like you cheated them.
Here’s the thing...
I’m not advocating for any particular path through this minefield.
I’m just pointing out that “educating” clients into a bigger and more expensive solution is a delicate operation that is not to be undertaken lightly.
Yours,
—J