EPISODE SUMMARY
Overdelivering—giving your clients and buyers more than they expected or contracted for—is a seemingly thoughtful and helpful practice that is anything but.
EPISODE NOTES
Our tendency (especially in proposal situations) to acquiesce to client requests—and how to re-direct that for the good of all.
The power and status dynamics surrounding consultants serving clients and what happens if we start treating clients as higher status.
How overdelivering can seep into your firm’s practices and where to nip it in the bud.
Developing a healthy mindset around service delivery, providing value and decoupling your fees from effort.
Quotables
“Your clients are a choice, just like your boss is a choice, but people often forget that walking away is one of the options.”—JS
“You could say: ‘Listen, if we take out this step, I can't guarantee the transformation, and therefore I can't do that for you.’”—RM
“The way to provide value to your clients is not to be obedient—it's to deliver results.”—JS
“The proposal is the dress rehearsal for the engagement.”—RM
“If you let prospective clients push you around in the sales process, it should come as no surprise when they push you around during the project.”—JS
“The more that you consider yourself low status relative to clients, the worse you're going to feel about it.”—RM
“There's so much ‘the customer's always right’ psychology. "Wouldn't it be better to give them more than less?" No, it really wouldn't.”—JS
“This is about leveraging what you have—not playing status games that have you overdelivering and creating relationships that don't work for you.”—RM
Links
Tara McMullin's Instagram piece on over-delivering
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Do you have questions about how to improve your business?
Things like:
- Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time?
- Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space?
- Productizing your services so you never have to have another awkward sales call or spend hours writing another custom proposal?
Book a one-on-one coaching call with me and get answers to these questions and others in the time it takes to get ready for work in the morning.
Best of all, you're covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don't feel like it was worth it, just say the word, and I'll refund your purchase in full.
To book your one-on-one coaching call, go to:
https://jonathanstark.com/call
I hope to see you there!
