Dissatisfaction and Willingness to Change

We take our prospects where we find them. Here are four common states you may find your dream client in and what can do to help them.

Not Dissatisfied, Unwilling to Change

Some of the prospective clients in your territory aren’t dissatisfied, and they are are not willing to change. When you come across potential buyers who are already happy, it is not uncommon that they are unwilling to change. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pursue these prospects. In fact, if you can help them become dissatisfied, you can increase their willingness to change. But unless you help them with a vision of how they can improve where they are, they aren’t likely to move.

Not Dissatisfied, Willing to Change

Some of the prospects you come across aren’t really dissatisfied, but they are willing to change. There are a lot of growth-minded people in business who like to explore new ideas and like to continuously improve. The challenge you sometimes encounter with low dissatisfaction, high willingness to change is presenting something big enough, something compelling enough to help them take action. You do well here by presenting big, strategic initiatives.

Dissatisfied, Not Willing to Change

You will be frustrated by prospective clients who are highly dissatisfied, but unwilling to change. Sometimes they are unwilling to change their partner because they know and understand their problems well enough that they’re comfortable. They’re more afraid of the risk of changing. You will also find some targets who are unwilling to change the way they do business. They are more than happy to switch from vendor to vendor, always complaining about the poor results the vendors produce, without ever recognizing that they aren’t investing enough to produce a better result, or that their culture is broken, or that some constraint in their business is their real challenge. These are the toughest prospective clients you will ever encounter. You create value here by helping them become more willing to make the necessary changes.

Dissatisfied, Willing to Change

Here’s what you’ve been waiting for, highly dissatisfied, and highly motivated to change. But before you get too excited, know that this segment doesn’t make up a high percentage of the prospective clients in your territory. The trick here is to be in front of these opportunities when they occur. You get in front of them by nurturing relationships when they are one of the other three quadrants. You make sure that you are known—and that you are known as a value creator—when your dream client becomes dissatisfied and motivated to change. Things move fast here, and you are in front, or you aren’t going to be there at all.

Questions

In what stage are your prospective clients most commonly found?

What do you do when a prospect is dissatisfied and unwilling to change?

What is the best course of action when a prospect is willing to change but doesn’t feel the motivation?

How do you know when a prospect will reach the stage of being both dissatisfied and willing to change?