How to Determine What Problem You Solve for Your Clients

When you’re designing your products, creating your brand, and speaking to your 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?”

One of Liberty’s marketing specialists, Stephanie O’Brien, recently met an entrepreneur who was struggling to answer that question, and here are the strategies she recommended:

1. Write a list of all the physical, emotional and lifestyle problems that your clients have complained about and/or you’ve helped them solve.

For example, if you’re a tax professional, this could include:

A. Missing out on refunds, or paying extra taxes and penalties, because they didn’t know how to file and optimize their tax return.

B. Spending hours on a task they don’t know how to do, and getting frustrated and stressed out in the process.

C. Possibly wasting hours and extra money in the future, because their tax return got audited and they didn’t know what had gone wrong or how to fix it.

If you solve a problem that other people in your industry don’t, or you avoid a pitfall that your clients often encounter with other professionals in your field, be sure to mention that.

2. Write down a list of the benefits they’ve enjoyed.

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. Give your clients a survey or poll to see which of these problems and benefits they identify with the most, and if they have any others to add.

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.

Bear in mind, you don’t have to ONLY solve one problem. You could solve a cluster of related issues.

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.

What if you’re just starting out, and you don’t have any clients yet?

In that case, ask yourself:

1. On what topics do I frequently get asked for advice, or find myself offering advice?

2. What kind of problems do people bring to me the most often, and how do I help them solve those problems?

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 why I assemble groups of JV network members who all serve the same client, so I 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.

If you want to give your clients superior service, and to get more referrals with less networking, send me a direct message today!