Where Do You Hurt The Most?

November 12th, 2007 by Cristina Favreau

Do you find out what your client needs before you start servicing him?

For example, if you were contracted for your letter writing services, would you get to work right away? Or would you conduct a preliminary interview with your client to find out:

  • What style and voice does he want you to use?
  • Who are the letters destined for?
  • What is the end goal?
  • Is this a marketing campaign?
  • Has he done this before?
  • What challenges has he faced in the past?
  • What does and doesn’t he know about letter writing?
  • etc…

In thinking about this subject it reminded me of getting a massage.

I don’t know about you, but I love massages. I’ve been to all sorts of massage therapists. Some are VERY good, some are VERY bad and others are just OK.

The very best are those who, the first time we met, sat down with me for 30 minutes to find out more about ME. What do I do for work? Do I have kids? How much stress is in my life? Do I have any health issues? Have I ever been to a massage therapist before? What did I like/dislike about them? What intensity am I most comfortable with? What are my expectations?

And, most importantly, where do I hurt the most?

Here are some things these questions indicate to me. The masseuse:

  1. … knows what they’re doing.
  2. … knows what they’re talking about.
  3. … sees me as an individual and not just as another client.
  4. … cares about my experience.
  5. … is interested in creating clients for life, as opposed to making a quick buck.
  6. … is worth what they charge.
  7. … wants to tailor their service to my needs.

Let’s turn this around. When you get a new client, do you let your excitement get the better of you? Do you lump all your clients into the same boat? Do you offer a cookie-cutter service? Are you afraid of losing money by conducting an initial needs assessment?

If so, I urge you to change your mindset.

The extra time it’ll take you to unearth your clients’ individual needs is well worth the effort. Doing so gives your clients a sense of security, they get a taste of what it’s like working with you and they’ll feel heard. You’ll be seen as a serious professional and valuable resource to whom they’ll look to for guidance in the future.

Show your clients you care by getting in the habit of asking Where do you hurt the most?

Category General Marketing, Relationship-building, Self-promotion, Selling Your Services, Success | Comments

  • Leanne, thank you so much for joining the conversation.

    Please let us know how your clinics go in 2008. Good luck in the new year!
  • Jenn, sounds like this coach took you on a roller coaster ride. First, engaging you and getting you excited about working with him. Then, feeling a little threatened by your request for more information, gave you a generic pitch. That sucks for you.

    An assessment or evaluation will save you so much time and gives you a head start on the learning curve.

    For me, it's all about chemistry -- finding out if this is the type of person I want to work with. I need to want to work with the person just as much as they want to work with me.
  • Chris, I'm glad you agree and that you find the process works for your business.
  • That's some pretty sage advice. I hope to incorporate it into my clinic in 2008. A New Year, a new challenge!
  • I love this post Cristina - even though I do curriculum-based coaching, I always do a needs assessment with my clients. Everyone is different - and even though I work with many clients through the same lessons - we can tweak the lessons so that they are ultra-effective for each individual client.

    I engaged a coach a while back who did a needs assessment with me - I was considering hiring him to help me 1 on 1. I loved his insight, and resonated with what he said - but I wasn't 100% sure his program was exactly right for me. Instead of really engaging me and asking what my needs were, he just spent then entire call trying to pound my square needs into his round solution. It was quite a turn-off.

    I also agree with Chris - conducting a needs assessment really helps to lay everything on the table and helps me as a coach, really understand my clients - their needs, their thought processes, their priorities, etc... after all - the coaching relationship is about THEM growing!
  • Great post--as usual. @ my tendayeam blog I'm doing just this; it's WAAAAAAAAAAAAY more efficient to take complete information early in the process than it is to be surprised by gotchas.
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