Biggest Mistake of Service Providers: Are You Making It Too?

Do you know what the biggest mistake of most service providers is?

It is something that I see time and again in consulting businesses and it is a fundamental mistake we are often blind to.

When we start, what we do essentially is create a shopping list of services for prospective clients.  It goes something like this:

“We know/skills/resources in A, B, C and we could offer that to X, Y, and Z ”.

So we go about hoping that X,Y, and Z would need A, B, and C and we knock on doors and push, but sales are never as good as we wish they were.

If you are doing that, you are going about it the wrong way.

Don’t think of what you can offer.

Think: WHAT DO THEY NEED instead?

Start with empathy. Understand your client’s challenges and aspirations to create meaningful solutions.

Put yourself in the shoes of your target client. Be them in your mind for 5 minutes.  Here are a few questions that could help you:

• What issues are they faced with daily?
• What keeps them up at night?
• What are they hoping to achieve?
• What would make their life significantly easier?

This is where you start. This is where you add value.

You may be brilliant at the service you provide, but if it doesn’t solve your clients’ problems or give them an advantage, you will have a hard time selling it.

What is it your clients are looking for?

#AskPaulDavis #strategy