Make every client a hero. She’ll love you for it.

Everybody wants to be a hero. So, when you're preparing a proposal or a pitch, it’s only natural for you to want to put on the cape. But here’s the thing.

People don’t want you to rescue them. They want you to help them become the hero of their own story. That means that you need to make a fundamental shift in the way you develop and sell your product, service, strategy or thing. Instead of focusing on what you want to do for clients, you need to figure out what problem you can solve for them. Then, create a story that shows them just how you’ll do that. 

That’s the essence of Story Design. By combining the human-centred philosophy of design thinking with the art of shaping engaging stories, you can develop a relationship with clients that shows them you have their best interests at heart. You become their trusted guide as they work to achieve their goals - taking on the same role as Yoda, Gandalf, Dumbledore, Mr. Miyagi and Professor X.

How does that work in practice? That’s what I explored with Maryn Wallace, Senior Manager and Client Service Leader at Deloitte Private in the latest episode of my podcast. When a client asks Deloitte to submit a proposal for work, one of the first things they do is assemble a team to “make sense” of the client’s current situation or problem. This sense-making is a core function of our narrative intelligence. At a sub-conscious level, we’re constantly asking ourselves why things are happening, why people are doing the things a certain way and why things need to change. In the design thinking world, it’s a key activity and the toughest part of the whole process. You can’t start to figure out a solution until you know what problem you’re solving. That would be like an architect designing a building without knowing what it’ll be used for. 

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” – Albert Einstein

Once the team at Deloitte thinks it has a handle on the client’s challenge, team members use empathy to stand in the client’s shoes and say, “If I were in this position, what kind of help would I need and want? How would I like that help to work with me?” Taking on this shift in perspective is critical to ensuring everything they do stays client-centred. Only then can they cast themselves as characters in their client’s story and work out what customized assistance they can offer to support the client in reaching her goals. 

It’s not until they’ve made sense of the problem, figured out their role, identified the skills and strengths they can share, defined the client’s happily-ever-after and sketched out a possible quest to get there, that the team pulls together a future story. That story becomes the pitch that shows the client clearly that the team “gets” where she’s coming from and can help her move to where she wants to go. They’re not trying to sell her a pre-packaged solution that won’t solve her problem.

Taking a story design approach like this requires patience and a commitment to client-centred service. You need to resist the temptation to jump to a solution and do the work to make sure you’re telling the right story and solving the right problem. It’s challenging, demanding and totally worth it. Not only will you win the work, but you’ll also create lasting relationships with your clients that will crush your ROI over the long term. And that’s how you become a hero in your own world.