Clients tend to find themselves doing the same routine again and again. This is good if it works. Not so much if it doesn’t. They will believe that it will turn around again, it should. That dangerous “should” word. If it worked before it’ll work again. Years pass, the same thing continues to happen. The business starts to decay, and when it’s the fourth quarter with 2 minutes remaining during crunch time, that’s when they want to make a change.

It’s almost nostalgic for them to keep doing what they’ve always done. They can be happy as a clam without realizing that what they’ve been doing is falling behind. Think about the business that is still paying the same price for dial-up when they could have fiber optics. Sometimes the logic doesn’t make sense. But, that’s your job. To help them make a decision that’s better for their situation. To help clients make beneficial changes.

Pain isn’t always enough to compel a client to change. If problems were enough, they would be calling you left and right. That’s not always the case. Your clients and most people live with unresolved issues and challenges. You have to help them break from their past ways. Then, identify new ways for them to see the need, and courageously take action.

Educate

Often, they are busy going to trade shows, making connections, running operations day-to-day, or building the vision. At this point, they have completely ignored the challenges. It works in the short term, but if they weren’t so hunkered down they’d be able to see the advantages of a new solution (like fiber optics).

Diagnose

You might have to think about this one a little bit to understand whether you can help diagnose the problem that the customer is facing. They may say different things, but you have to ask the right questions and potentially make some inferences. A client might say, “Ugh, the new hires just aren’t working hard enough, and then they quit.” On your end you might need to determine why they aren’t working hard enough and why they quit. If you notice that the company hasn’t changed their pay rates or compensation package in the last 40 years, chances are they aren’t spending enough to acquire the same level of talent they used to.

Compare

You will start to see a number of businesses that are treading water or are failing internally. You’ll get a deep understanding of why it keeps happening. By noticing these trends, you can address your clients by showing them the changes their competitors or partners have made, and how it has helped their business. This way they don’t feel like the first in an experiment.

Inform

You can suggest or recommend changes to your client, but persuading them is a more effective approach. By showing and informing your client of how they can improve their results, you can confidently help them break away from doing things the old ways.

Implement

Teaching the client and helping them make a decision is very important, but you also need to help them make the change. How can they use the solution? Some companies will have a sales engineer that walks the customer through the process. They can go into details and break down any of the technical questions during the onboarding. A solution doesn’t help if they can’t use it. Keep that in mind. Also, make sure that the change sticks. Contact them and follow-up to ensure that the solution is creating their desired result.

Here at last

It may have taken your customer ages to see the light, but you helped them by educating them on what’s changed over the years, diagnosing the root cause of the problem, comparing their current situation with competitors that are gaining an edge, informing them of why this works, and helping them implement their new solution. They are coming out of the dark ages, and it’s all thanks to your negotiation and problem solving skills.