As a businessman, your success is dependent on how your clients view you. Having my first formal job at nine years old, I was always curious about how one business professional could make more money and be more valuable than another when they were both providing the exact same service or product. Over the years, it became very evident to me that there is one thing that stands above all else that will draw wealth towards you. It’s the one thing that your clients will pay significant amounts of money for. It’s the one thing that will make you absolutely priceless to them and cause them to completely avoid your competition.
How To Be Priceless To Your Clients
Your clients have problems, a lot of them. Whether you know it or not, they are dealing with problems all day long. Problems in their own business as well as problems in their personal lives. No one likes problems. When you help solve their problems, you become absolutely priceless. The person or organization who has alleviated their problems has lifted a huge weight off their shoulders. The more weight you lift off their shoulders, the more valuable you become to them.
Here’s the analogy I like to use. You will pay a plumber normal rates when you need a toilet or faucet replaced. But what about when your pipes are leaking and flooding your basement? You’ll pay whatever it takes to fix the problem. That’s when a normal plumber becomes absolutely priceless.
Most businessmen are service or product providers. Which means that they provide what they sell. But also understand that you are an advisor to your clients as well. As an advisor, your job is to help your clients fix their problems. The more problems you can fix, the higher you climb on their “priceless ladder.” Having a consulting and coaching firm, we have focused our attention on fixing problems rather than just providing services. It’s a slight shift in strategy that has had a MASSIVE return on investment. I suggest you consider this as well.
The Three Levels Of Problem Solving
There are different levels of how you can solve your clients’ problems. The deeper you go, the more priceless you become.
The first layer is the surface level problem. This is solving the issue at hand. For example, your furnace is rattling and you call your local company HVAC company to fix it. They come and replace the part that was the issue.
The second layer is solving the root cause of the problem. Solving the root cause enables them to avoid the same issue in the future. For example, with further examination, the same HVAC company representative notices that you’re in a heavy industrial area. There are a lot of particles that are clogging up your filters. They suggest that you add an additional filter system so that you don’t have future challenges with the same issue.
The third layer is even deeper. It’s the deepest you can go which is teaching your clients how to solve their own problems. The same HVAC company teaches your maintenance guys what to look for and how to solve any issues with the HVAC system.
Throughout the years, we developed the approach of teaching our clients how to solve their own problems which has allowed us to outpace our competition. Our clients want to do business with us because we’re not just service providers, we problem-solving advisors. Many of our clients have told us that they want to do business with us for life. Your clients will feel the same way.
How To Top The Charts With Your Clients
You will not be able to solve all your clients’ problems or be able to teach either. It’s virtually impossible because you’re not the experts in everything. Here’s how you get around that. You create a network of experts who cover areas that you don’t. If you can’t solve your clients’ problem but you know someone else who can, that’s almost as good. Many of my clients come to me with challenges that they know we can’t solve. But they know we’ll direct them to someone who can. Don’t fall short on this. Going the extra step to find someone who can help your client goes a long way.
Summary
Solving their problems is okay value but teaching them how to solve their own problems is the highest value you can provide and become absolutely priceless to them. As long as you do this, your clients will stay clear of your competition.
All the best!
Purdeep
