I've found that the exercise of asking yourself why clients don't buy from you is an incredibly useful one (as long as you answer honestly).

Do they hire someone else who's cheaper? Who they say is better qualified than you? Who seems like a safer option for them because they already know them?

Most of the people who I speak to, if they're honest, will admit that the number one reason people don't buy from them isn't that they choose someone else. It's that they just don't buy anything at all.

They decide that they don't really need what you (and your competitors) are offering enough to justify the pain and cost of buying and implementing it.

Usually, it's no surprise to people when we talk about how “doing nothing” is the main reason they don't win a client.

But then when I ask them what their main strategies to market themselves focus on, it turns out they seem to forget why they're not winning all this work.

Their main strategies seem to be about establishing themselves as an expert. About differentiating themselves from the competition.

But these types of strategies don't persuade a client who doesn't think they need to buy that they should. They're focused on why they should choose you after they've decided to buy.

Don't you think more focus should be put on helping clients see that something needs to change, rather than trying to show clients who aren't interested why you're better than other people they're not interested in either?

Where are you putting most of your marketing effort? If it's not in getting clients who are happy with the status quo to see that they shouldn't be, then you've probably got your priorities wrong.