Picture this: you're a sales consultant. A prospect calls and says, "We need help with our sales process." You get excited, schedule a call, and dive into your pitch about sales training and CRM optimization. But three weeks later, you get the dreaded "we've decided to go with someone else" email.
What went wrong? You assumed they knew exactly what they need. Most prospects actually don't know. They know something's broken, but they can't pinpoint what or how to fix it. They are not the expert, you are. When you build your entire proposal around their initial request, you're often solving the wrong problem entirely.
Why good solutions get rejected
Your prospects exist on what I call the Customer Clarity Spectrum. Think about the last time you weren't feeling well. You might have known you had a headache and needed aspirin (clear problem, clear solution). Or maybe you felt lousy but needed a doctor to figure out what was wrong (vague problem, need investigation). Business prospects work the same way.
Some know exactly what's broken and how to fix it. Others just have a nagging feeling that something's off. The ones who seem crystal clear about their needs? They're often the most dangerous because they sound confident but might not have done the real diagnostic work.
The prospects who trust you to diagnose before you prescribe are the ones who become long-term clients. But how do you figure out what they actually need?
Every client request falls into one of three buckets
Over the years, I've noticed that every business goal falls into one of three categories: Insight, Planning, or Implementation. Understanding which bucket your prospect's request really belongs in is the difference between proposals that get accepted and ones that get politely declined.
Insight goals: "What's really going on here?"
These are deep dives to uncover whether change is even necessary. Think workshops, assessments, audits, or market research. The buyer's mindset is: "We have a hunch something's wrong, but we need proof before we act."
I once worked with a manufacturing company losing sales. Sales blamed marketing for poor leads. Marketing blamed sales for poor follow-up. The CEO initially wanted sales training, but when I suggested a sales process audit instead, we discovered their biggest problem was a 4-day delay between lead generation and first contact. Simple fix, but nobody saw it until we dug in.
Red flags that suggest you're dealing with an Insight goal: multiple stakeholders have different theories about the problem, they use vague language like "optimize" or "improve efficiency," or internal teams are pointing fingers at each other.
Planning goals: "How do we fix this?"
This is strategy development for a known problem. You're not investigating whether change is needed—you're figuring out how to make it happen. The buyer's mindset: "We know we need to change. Now show us exactly how to do it."
A healthcare startup I worked with saw telehealth visits exploding but had no strategy for scaling their sales team. They didn't need me to tell them telehealth was booming; they could see it in their numbers. They needed a concrete roadmap for hiring, training, and organizing a larger sales force.
Watch for prospects who clearly articulate the problem but have no solution, or who say things like "We know we need X, but how do we get there?"
Implementation goals: "Help us get it done"
This is hands-on execution support. They know what needs to happen and have a plan; they just need help making it real. The buyer's mindset: "We know what to do and how to do it. We just need extra hands or expertise to execute."
A consulting firm I worked with had developed a detailed proposal template but needed help customizing it for different industries and training their team to use it effectively. They didn't need strategy, they needed execution support.
These prospects focus on timelines and resource allocation, not strategy, and they ask detailed questions about your team and methodologies.
The false implementation trap
Most salespeople assume every prospect wants Implementation. After all, that's usually where the big money is. But selling Implementation to someone who needs Insight is like performing surgery on someone who hasn't been diagnosed yet.
Let's say a prospect tells you, "We want you to implement a new CRM system." Sounds like Implementation, right? But when you dig deeper, you discover three different departments want three different systems, no one has mapped their current sales process, they haven't defined success metrics, and the CEO, sales manager, and IT director all have different goals.
This isn't an Implementation goal. It's actually an Insight goal, that the prospects haven't realized yet. If you propose a CRM implementation, you'll either lose the deal or win a project destined to fail.
Sound familiar?
When you suspect goal type confusion, slow down and ask diagnostic questions like: "Before we talk about solutions, help me understand what's driving this initiative" or "What does success look like, specifically?"
How this saves deals (and creates better ones)
Let me tell you about a mid-sized marketing agency that was bleeding clients. Sales blamed account management for poor client relationships. Account management blamed sales for setting wrong expectations. The creative team blamed everyone for promising things they couldn't deliver.
The CEO told me, "We need sales training to help our team set better expectations." But I could smell a false Implementation goal from a mile away.
Instead of proposing training, I suggested we start with an Insight goal. We interviewed recent clients who'd left, current clients who were happy, and all internal team members. We analyzed the handoff process from sales to account management.
The discovery was eye-opening: the problem wasn't sales skills. It was a complete breakdown in the handoff from sales to client services. Sales would promise one thing, but those details never made it to the account team. Clients felt bait-and-switched.
With the real problem identified, we developed a systematic handoff process, trained both teams on it, and monitored the first dozen transitions. Client retention improved from 68% to 91% within six months.
If I had just delivered the sales training they originally requested, none of this would have happened. The real problem would have remained invisible, and they'd still be losing clients.
Your goal type diagnostic toolkit
Want to quickly identify which goal type you're really dealing with? Here are three questions you can ask your prospect that cut through the confusion:
1. "How confident are you that you've identified the root cause of this challenge?"
High confidence usually means they need Planning or Implementation. Low confidence signals need for Insight.
2. "If you had unlimited resources, would you know exactly what to do?"
If yes, they probably need Implementation. If no, they need Planning.
3. "What evidence do you have that this is the right solution?"
Lots of data suggests Planning or Implementation. Only gut feelings points to needing more Insight.
These questions help you understand not just what they're asking for, but what they actually need. When you match your proposal to their true goal type, your win rate will improve dramatically.
But what if we only offer one type?
Most commercial offerings are concentrated on one type of goal. If you are selling software, you are selling Implementation. If you offer professional services, you are normally focused on Insight or Planning but seldom on both. For professional services, Implementation is usually a different set of expertise: it's training, change management or ongoing services.
There are several ways that you can deal with prospects that have a goal type that isn't within your core offering. You can expand your offering, partner, create a bridging offering, consultative sales, offer workshops - among some other ways. This is a whole subject in itself and I will expand on it in a later article.
Stop losing deals to misdiagnosis
Every client request is actually an Insight, Planning, or Implementation goal. The prospects who seem most certain about what they want are often the ones who need the most help figuring it out. Your job isn't just to respond to their requests. It's to guide them toward the right solution, even if it means starting smaller than you'd initially hoped.
The prospects who trust you to diagnose before you prescribe become the clients who stick around. They're the ones who see you as a strategic partner, not just a vendor. And those relationships? They're worth far more than any single project.
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