The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay — Henry Ford, Founder, Ford Motor Company.
Usually, when we want to explain the value of a service, we focus on the change it would bring to the client – return on investment, less risk, more revenue, smaller costs or a better image are all good directions to take.
But even as you explain this to them, you are not just competing with all the other projects they could do or all the other people they could choose to do it with.
You are very much competing with the quiet, easy, and seemingly free option – doing nothing at all.
Yes, the status quo, the option of leaving things as they are is something that needs to be addressed as well so that it cannot seduce the client into simply backing away from the decision. Because as easy as it seems, it carries a hidden cost, called the cost of inaction.
If the client doesn’t make a change, what will they lose or continue losing? What will get worse, what could reach critical mass and implode if they keep hitting the “snooze” button?
You don’t have to “play detective” in order to find this out, usually, it’s enough to just ask at the beginning of the conversation. Address that first, and wake them up to the necessity of an objective situation. Then, and only then start building the case for added value you bring.