“My transportation is out of control. Come fix it!”
A former colleague and boss, and still a close friend of mine, used to use an analogy of going to see a doctor when you are ill or in pain. A good physician does not just look at one area of concern and prescribe a treatment. Rather, she will ask a series of questions; she will examine your body; she will look at your blood pressure, pulse, and other vitals.
Perhaps the remedy is a simple one. Perhaps it is more complex. Perhaps you need to be referred to a specialist.
The goal is to get to the real pain or issue, not just react to pain indicators.
To put it in personal terms, I once had what I thought was an impacted tooth or at least a cavity. Turns out it was a sinus infection treatable with antibiotics, but it was a good thing my dentist didn’t just yank the tooth and send me on my way!
We see similar scenarios with our clients and prospects. They come to us often with ‘symptoms’ such as:
“My freight rates are soaring out of control!”
“I don’t have visibility to my inbound loads from vendors”
“My fleet is terribly expensive, but a necessary cost to our business”
Sounds painful and relatable.
But probing further, we often find that the original statements are simply pain indicators, not true pain.
“Tell me more about your rate structure and your carrier relationships...”
“Visibility to you means?”
“What does terribly expensive mean?”
They are symptoms of a larger problem.
This is where it gets tricky. Some clients are just not able to verbalize true pain. That could be because they don’t know - something is happening upstream beyond their control - or they have never thought beyond the ache of the day.
