Why Solving Customer Problems Is More Important Than How Many Clients You Have

“I don’t know why my fungus won't go. I was here 2 months ago!”

When a client checks for your expertise, they aren't wrong for doing so.

If they're paying for a specific service, they need to be confident you have experience solving the problem they have.

But it's disingenuous to leverage 'how many clients you have' as expertise if you're not considering the relationship those projects have with each other.

The lack of rules and structure around what is considered expertise is what's wrong with the use of the word expertise in Trinidad and Tobago.

Some say expertise when they mean the client count, or the number of years they've been doing X. Others frame expertise as working like a horse. And most people, simply mean generic information when they use the word expertise.

It's become this arbitrarily used word.

You can't conflate years of randomly doing loosely related things with mastering one specific thing. And you certainly can't justify a bogus job title merged with the responsibilities of all the positions you wish to fill but can't afford to as expertise. More importantly, knowledge doesn't mean effective application so you can't use it interchanagebly with expertise.

ACCORDING TO FORBES, EXPERTISE IS DEFINED AS...

The vast knowledge you have on a subject over the average person, and what you're able to proficiently teach others.

But that's vague.

The caveat here is, what you're able to teach because you work in a specific space solving specific problems.

This missing link forecasts perfectly the defintion of expertise when you provide a service. It isn't just about knowldge but also the application of what's known.

Here's an example of this

HELPING THE PROSPECT IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM THEY HAVE

One of the biggest problems with local prospects is their inability to recognize what they truly need help with.

What they’re particulary good at pointing out is what I call decoy issues—the thinking that access to online payment is the answer, instead of an intensive treatment plan, or a flashy design instead of not a brand is how they miss the help standing in front of them and, go down the wrong path with services that don't deliver.

When you provide a service, knowing where the disconnect for the prospect is an important part of helping them diagnos their real problem.

That was the value of my conversation with Kristen. Like many, she associated expertise with quantity.

“How many clients have you had similar to our company?" she asked.

My reply?

“You’ll be my first, but the final decision isn’t and shouldn’t be based on the number of insurance clients I’ve had, but the kind of projects I’ve done; I’ve successfully helped past clients find what they need to say to attract the type of people they want to work with.”

I then followed up with examples of clients with the specific problem she had, to validate what I previously stated.

Smiling, she said, “I understand, I understand! And, I like what I’m hearing!”

When the problem you solve is prioritized, then and only then, how many clients you have means something. Not because of popularity "everybody going here", but because of specificity: your body of work points in one direction.

Kristen became my first 15K project.

It wasn't the number of clients I had that earned her trust. It was that I knew how to solve a specific kind of problem she didn't know she had.

---

I am a visual brand strategist and owner of The BrandTUB **Schedule a call if you need help narrowing in on your real problem you solve **Put it online in one day with The One-Page Project™ **Sign up to receive these weekly articles in your inbox if you’re not quite ready to work with me yet.

And please share my article if you liked it