The job of a consultant- In its simplest terms

We’re restoring our house.  A beautiful, but bedraggled victorian place, in Oundle, UK. The previous owner lived here for thirty years and spent virtually nothing on maintenance. Unfortunately he was  a DIY enthusiast and had very little skill.  We bought the house for its potential and saw past the tacked-up, bodged and home-made titivations that the guy was proud to show us. We bought the possibilities.  And isn’t that what our clients buy when they sign on the line for our services?  The promise of a more successful, airy, comfortable future?

So isn’t that where the focus of our selling efforts should be, when we’re working to get that agreement to use us?  In showing what we could help them to achieve?  How we could help them feel? Where we could support them to be?

Yes, we should have an idea of how we could advise them to do that.  Yes we should be able to show them how we’ve helped others like them to do the same, but that’s simply supporting evidence.  What will make us irresistible, is our ability to –

1. Understand our clients dreams and fears
2. Make the achievement of them seem like a reality
3. Then give them an idea of how.

So why do we often start at the how and focus on us and what we’ve done, at the expense of our clients’ dreams, and our success? What do you think?