"This Sounds Great But We Don't Need It"

Picture this: you're a B2B consultant, seasoned in your craft, pitching a solution to a room of nodding heads.

After laying out your meticulously crafted approach, built on the latest methodologies, the room's energy suddenly dips as your potential client delivers the dreaded line:

"This sounds great, but we don't need it right now."

Sound familiar?

In the words of Steve Blank: “No Plan Survives First Contact With Customers”

This isn't just a minor hiccup; it's a recurring scenario that spells frustration, wasted time, and missed opportunities. Every hour spent pitching to clients who ultimately pass on your solution is an hour not spent engaging potential clients willing to buy.

This pain point is deeply felt in the consultancy world, where the focus is often more on solutions than on the underlying problems that need addressing.

Take this real life example from an application to work with me with a vastly experienced Consultant.

He had fallen into the trap of trying to force his predetrmined solution onto a market that didn't want it. And importantly, he didn't have a huge cash runway to try to change the beliefs of a marketplace.

What if I told you there's a strategic shift that could transform the way you engage with potential clients, turning this frustrating scenario on its head?

This isn't about refining your sales pitch or tweaking your solution—it's about understanding your clients on a deeper level before you even start the sales conversation.

This is the appraoch we teach clients called - Client Insight Interviews.

Client Insight Interviews

These are conversations with a target prospect group that is representative of the market you want to serve, to discover and validate problems and pains, as well as validate your initial offer assumptions.

For each hour of customer development interviews, businesses tend to save 5 to 10 to 20 hours of wasted development time. — Cindy Alvarez , Lean Customer Development Author’

OR

‘For each hour of customer insight interviews, businesses tend to save 20 - 50 hours of wasted marketing and sales time’. — Peter ODonoghue

Hey - I didn't invent this approach. I just took it and made it completely useable by Consultants - who typically don't engage prospects in this way.

The UK Design Council created the Double Diamond design process in 2005 to capture an innovation process. It has since been widely adopted in user experience design and is the foundation of the interview, and customer development process movement that followed.

1. Discovery – Problem interview (divergent) The starting point of the problem interview phase can be as little as a market insight around which you try to explore and discover problems and opportunities. Whether you have a good hunch for a problem or not, it’s best to start with a divergent interview to explore as widely as possible and learn about your prospects, their company, and their problems.
2. Drilldown – Problem interview (convergent) The second problem interview helps the entrepreneur home in on problems and dig deep to understand the root causes and the impact that solving this problem would have.
3. Exploration – Solution interview (divergent) The solution interview phase begins after you create a solution to your prospect’s problem. This stage is about exploring, iterating and testing the minimum viable product to maximise its impact and relevance with prospects.
4. Confirmation – Solution interview (convergent) The final phase of the solution interview is about confirming that the solution provides enough value for money to change hands . The outcome of the confirmation stage is a solution that has been validated or invalidated by prospects and a business model.

BUT - We are not in the innovation space for this offer. Nor are we in the early startup phase looking for a business idea. You have experience and have a good grasp of the general niche and/or problems and want to test new ideas or models.?

Therefore our process is leaner and less complex.

Phase 1: Identify and Get Prospects On Calls

Phase 2: Problem Identification: Identify customer problems or validate your hypothesis about a problem, i.e. is it real?

Phase 3: Problem Agitation And Implications Dig deeper into identified customer problems by exploring real pain points, implications - functional, emotional, financial, and individual and business-wide.

Phase 4: Solution Exploration Explore how the client is addressing the problem and their view of options. Importantly - is this highly ranked as a problem to solve that they are willing and capable to pay for.

Phase 5: Permission to Solve Get the customer buy-in to help them develop a solution IF they have a problem you can solve.

Client Insight Interviews (CII) are crucial, not just for understanding your clients’ needs but for fostering deeper, more meaningful relationships that lead to sustained business success.

No more than at this exact moment in history when the world of business has been disrupted beyong recognition by A.I.

Phase 1: Identifying and Engaging Potential Ideal Clients

The first step is about pinpointing who your ideal clients are, reaching out to them, and initiating conversations that set the stage for deeper insight.

Step-by-Step Approach:

1. Identify Your Ideal Client: Analyze your market to determine who your ideal clients are. Go beyond factors such as industry, company size, and specific challenges they face that align with your solutions. What potential clients would positively 'juice' you when you work with them?
2. Initiate Contact: Craft personalised outreach messages that resonate with their current challenges and goals. Whether through email, LinkedIn messages, or direct calls, your approach should stroke the other persons ego slightly that you'd want to interview them as a leader in that space.
3. Secure a Conversation: Use this initial contact to set up a more formal discussion. Ensure that the conversation is framed as a learning opportunity for both sides, not a sales pitch. This sets the foundation for a genuine exchange of ideas and challenges.

Phase 2 to 4:

These are covered in complete detail in the full CII process shown in the image below:

If you'd like a copy of the full document drop me a direct message here on Linkedin or drop 'CII' in the comments below.

Client Insight Interviews not only positions you as a consultant who deeply understands client needs but also as a partner invested in achieving real solutions.

Skipping this crucial step can mean missing out on building trust and credibility, essential for long-term relationships. This method is not just a tool; it’s a fundamental component of a successful consulting practice, ensuring you connect with and effectively serve your clients.

Don't be the consultant that want's to change the world by proving you can push water uphill. As one of my mentors taught me:

"Don't complicate it kid. Find out what people want. Give it to them and Bill them"

Remember: If you'd like a copy of the full document drop me a direct message here on Linkedin or drop 'CII' in the comments below.