The next key component of the life-friendly business we've been talking about is to sell a “high want” product.

I'm sure you've been in the situation where you can see exactly what a client really needs, but the client doesn't see it for themselves.

To some degree, it's an occupational hazard for experts.

With expertise comes the ability to jump quickly from small symptoms to significant root causes in the same way Holmes could deduce Watson had been in Afghanistan from his demeanour, tan and injured arm.

Of course, clients often can't make those leaps from the problems they're experiencing to the real causes unaided.

Worse: they often don't even know they have a problem, or how big it is.

Given time, you could probably explain it (or better still, help them discover it for themselves).

But I'm going to suggest that if it takes a lot of explaining (or in other parlance, “selling”) for a client to realise they have a problem worth solving and that you have a great solution for them – then it may be you're selling the wrong thing.

It's not that you don't have what they need. Or that you couldn't convince them over time.

But it takes work.

And I'd rather spend my time solving a problem (and getting paid to do so) than spend it convincing someone that the problem needs solving.

I know that might sound a bit defeatist. And I know there are many, many problems that really need solving that take a lot of convincing.

But if you want an easier life, you have to decide not to focus on those sorts of problems.

There are plenty of big problems you could focus on where clients are well aware of the issue and want it solved. Or where it just takes a little bit of education for them to see the light.

A good rule of thumb for me is that if you can give someone a lightbulb moment in an email, blog post or video that gets them to realise what they really need and to want it, then it's a good area to work in.

If it takes a 2-hour call with them, it's not.

If you want to run a life-friendly business you have to take a good hard look at what you're offering to clients and ask yourself honestly whether it's something they already know they want.

If it is, or if it just takes a little bit of explaining, you're on the right track.

If it's not. If not enough clients quickly “get it”, then it's always going to be hard work.

And – don't hate me for this – I'm going to suggest you find something else to offer them.

That something else might just be a small twist on what you already do. Or a different way of presenting it so it's clearer to clients how it benefits them directly. Or it might be a very different way of using your skills and experience to help them.

When I first started out on my own I wanted to offer strategy and marketing services to smaller local businesses in the same way I'd been working with multinationals in my previous role.

After a few months of knocking on doors and very long conversations, I realised it was just too much hard work.

The vast majority of small businesses I spoke to were much more operationally focused. If something wasn't going to grow their sales or cut their costs in the next 6 months or less they just weren't interested.

I knew they needed a more strategic approach. But they didn't want one.

So I switched my focus to some of my other skills (marketing and selling services) for a different market (professional service firms) that already knew they had a problem and wanted a solution.

The upturn in my fortunes was pretty immediate.

I know it can hurt when you're convinced you have what a client really needs…if only they could see it.

But you're far better off changing tack to focus on something they can already see they need. Or focusing on a different type of client. 

It makes your marketing and selling an order of magnitude simpler and less time-consuming.

– Ian

PS Of course, it could have been that the small businesses were right and I was wrong. Maybe they didn't need a more strategic approach and focusing on the short term was more important for them. 

Either way, it doesn't matter. They weren't going to buy what I thought they needed without an awful lot of time spent convincing them – and maybe not even then. So changing tack was the right answer for both them and me.