You have insights that you are dying to share with your dream clients. You know that these insights can make a difference for your clients. But guess who else has insights? That’s right; you’re clients have insights of their own.
Many of your clients will not have been sitting around thoughtlessly running their businesses into the ground and waiting for you to rescue them. They’re not mindlessly pleased with the status quo. They might not need you to disrupt them with your big idea. In fact, they might have some wonderful insights of their own and may have already thought deeply about how they can breakthrough.
If you ask, your clients will share with you their insights. They will share with you all the things that they’ve learned about their business. Their insights include what they believe will work and what they believe needs to change. And they may know a thing or two.
It’s a wonderful thing to develop latent dissatisfaction. It’s important to help your clients discover their blind spots. They may not know that results they should expect or what they should really be capable of producing. But when they do know these things, and when they do have their own insights, they’re not be looking for disruption. They’re looking for a collaborative partner who can help them identify the options available to execute on their own insights. And, they may even want to hear what your insights might add to their own.
On the catwalk that is sales methodologies and sales processes, it’s clear that insight is today’s supermodel. And with good reason; one of the biggest challenges sales organizations have is creating opportunities when the status quo has taken hold. But there are other seasons and other fashions. And it’s important to remember that you’re not the only one with insights.
Your customers have insights of their own. If you’ll ask, and if you are open to listening, they’ll share them with you.
Questions
How do you determine whether or not you need to provide a disruptive insight or discover if your client may have one of their own?
Do you always need to develop latent dissatisfaction or do you sometimes find your clients are already dissatisfied and already in possession of a good idea of how they need to change?
How do you enable your clients to share their insights with you so that you can collaborate with them around potential solutions?