201. The dichotomy of advice
It's easy to believe that as advisors, we get paid to have all the answers.
We feel like to add value, we need to be able to tell people what to do.
What if instead, our value came from things like:
- Asking good questions
- Having good taste
- Running ideas through your filters
- Pattern matching against your experience
- Creating visions to consider
- Clarifying ideas that aren't well-considered
- Being an encourager of good ideas
- Wrestling with options
- Looking at things from different perspectives
- Playing devil's advocate
- Pushing people out of their comfort zone
As technicians, we like knowing the best tool or tactic to use for any situation. As creatives, we like envisioning new ideas and potential futures.
But as advisors, what if we didn't feel like we needed to have all answers, and instead helped our clients explore options until the answers became a little more obvious?
Your value isn't having all the answers. Your value comes from helping your clients make good decisions.
There are a lot of ways to get a result. The key is helping your clients choose the right way for them.
—kw
P.S. REGISTER FOR THE UPCOMING WORKSHOP
Next week (January 25 at 11:00 am EST) I'm hosting a live 90-minute workshop (with the recording made available) on how to package, price, and sell custom consulting services. We'll go deep on creating custom proposals that convert, so don't miss this one.
