In a recent conversation about an organization's value proposition, we spent some time discussing why the company preferred to call the people it serves “clients” rather than “customers.” When I asked why, they said the distinction was meant to express a more consultative relationship. I like the intention behind it, and it got me thinking about what a company is committing to when it makes that choice.

For me, being consultative begins with understanding what someone is trying to accomplish before recommending a solution. Essentially, that means falling in love with the problem that needs to be solved before prescribing how to solve it. That sounds pretty straightforward, but it can be difficult when you're excited about what you can offer.

After all, solving a problem for a client is one of the best feelings in business. You get to put your experience to work, make something better, and feel like you've earned your money. It's natural to want to get to that part as quickly as you can. But sometimes we recognize a familiar problem and stop listening too soon. We want to demonstrate our expertise, so we start explaining how we can help while the person is still trying to explain what matters to them.

This is why I think the Dan Sullivan question is useful. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's worth taking a quick look. Sullivan asks you to imagine looking back from three years into the future and consider what would need to have happened, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy about your progress.

What that does is put you in an imagined future where you can describe what has gone well. Inside that answer is information that can help you understand what a useful solution would actually need to accomplish.

The idea is to ask questions that help you understand your client's problem well enough to offer a useful solution. Which brings me back to the word client. There's nothing wrong with customer, of course, but client can be useful because it feels like it sets an expectation. You're committing to understanding what progress means to them and letting that understanding shape the work. In that sense, it says as much about your responsibility as it does about the relationship.

It starts with listening, especially when you think you already know the answer.