How to Decide Which Problems You Solve for Your Clients

By: Stephanie Tuesday October 30, 2018 comments Tags: Marketing, product creation, Copywriting, Client attraction, Business planning, Branding, Referral marketing

 
When you’re creating your product, program or service package, designing your brand, scripting your marketing materials, and speaking to potential clients and referral network members, one of the most important questions you need to answer is “What problem do I solve for my clients?”

I recently met an entrepreneur who was having trouble answering that question in her business. Here are the strategies I recommended:

1. Create a list of all the physical, emotional, financial, and/or lifestyle problems that you've helped people solve, or that your ideal clients said you helped them with.

This includes problems you weren't originally aiming to solve, but that did get solved as a side benefit of your product or service.

For instance, if you’re a tax expert, these issues could include:

A. Spending hours on a task they don’t enjoy and aren't good at, and being stressed out and frustrated as a result.

B. Paying extra taxes or avoidable penalties, or missing out on refunds they're entitled to, because of errors on their tax return.

C. The risk of wasting hours and extra money in the future, because they get audited and they don't know what went wrong or how to fix it.

If you solve a problem that other companies in your industry don’t, you can help a specific type of client whose unique challenges make it hard for them to get results, or you avoid an issue or shortcoming that your clients often encounter with other professionals in your field, be sure to mention that.

2. Write down a list of the benefits your clients have enjoyed as a result of your work.

This can include reduced stress, having more money to spend, and the security of knowing their taxes are filed correctly and the government won’t come knocking because they made a mistake.

3. Survey or poll your clients to see which problems they had and which benefits they received or desired.

Try giving your clients and potential clients a list of the problems you solve and the results you create. Ask them which of these problems they have, which of these benefits they want, and which ones are the most important to them. Also invite them to add any problems or results that you missed.

This will help you to get an idea of which problems and desires your clients have in common, and which are the most prominent in their minds.

While you're doing this, remember: you don’t have to restrict yourself to solving just one problem. You could solve a group of related challenges.

In some cases, this is actually better, because clients who say “I have that problem, but solutions don’t work for me because of this related problem” will prefer a solution that solves BOTH problems.

There are also people, such as house-hunters, who need multiple services and solutions to get the result they want. If your company, or your company plus your referral network members, can provide ALL the services the client needs to complete the transaction or otherwise get their desired outcome, this is much more attractive than providing just one piece of the puzzle.

What if you don't have any clients because you're just starting out?

In this case, ask yourself:

1. On what topics do people often ask me for advice? On which subjects do I find myself offering guidance?

2. What types of problems do people often bring to me, and how do I help them overcome those challenges?

Want to solve your clients’ problems even MORE effectively?

For many clients, one professional isn’t enough. It takes a team to run a business, to complete a real estate transaction, to optimize an investment and asset protection strategy, or to prepare for the expenses and complexities of old age.

That’s one of the reasons why I'm a member of Liberty Group: a referral management and collaboration company that assembles groups of JV network members who all serve the same client, so we can make sure that the people we serve get all the help they need, and that the client of one member becomes the client of multiple other members as well.

Not only does this enable us to help our clients more effectively, but it also gives us the ability to get more referrals with less networking.

If you want to receive more referrals, get paid for the referrals you make, and give your clients superior service, please contact me today so we can schedule a time to talk. During this call, we'll explore your business and goals, and see if you and Liberty Group are a good fit for each other.

I hope to hear from you soon!

About the Author: Stephanie

Stephanie is a writer and coaching program design specialist. She helps coaches to design lucrative and life-changing group programs, so they can help more people, make more money, and have more time freedom.