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

Writer for DDI on Medium
Nov 3, 2022
3 min read

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

If someone is paying for a specific service, they need to be confident that you have experience solving the problem they have.

That said, 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 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. But 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 mastery. 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 of a concept, so you can't use it interchangeably with expertise either.

FORBES DEFINES EXPERTISE AS...

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

But I find that definition 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 definition of expertise when you provide a service. It isn't just about knowledge but also the application of what's known.

HELPING THE PROSPECT IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM THEY HAVE

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

What they’re particularly good at pointing out is what I call decoy issues. If you think access to online payment, instead of a plan that leads to your clients' results, or a flashy design instead of a brand, is the answer, that's what I call a decoy issue. A perspective you hold that contributes to missing the help standing in front of you. It's the underlying cause for why so many clients of design go down the wrong path with services that don't deliver.

Wisdom to connect the dots is also extended to you, providing your own services. Do you know where the disconnect for the prospect is so you can help them diagnose 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 rather 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, the number of clients you have mean 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.