The 'Want/Know' Problem

The fundamental mistake which leads clients to believe consultants will only tell them what they already know.

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Why Clients Will Be Disappointed If You Give Them What They Want

Welcome to the consultancy doom loop

I suspect a common mistake for new consultants is to give clients exactly what they want and then find themselves with unhappy clients.

This happens like this.

In a new project, you begin by asking clients to describe what the outcomes look like.

Let’s imagine it’s a presentation.

Then you ask them to explain what contents you would like the presentation to cover.

Let’s imagine it’s an optimised sales process.

You ask them what does and doesn’t work - and drop the answers into the relevant areas of the sales process.

You ask them for feedback on what you’ve created and then adapt to their feedback.

etc…

At the end of the journey, you’ve created exactly what was in their heads in the first place.

And they’re left thinking

“Wait, we could have done this ourselves"

It’s easy to be confused about …