I know you can do it, but will you?

Why do you hire anyone to provide a product or service to you? Why does anyone hire you? Presumably because the result for the customer is faster, cheaper, or better than the customer would get by doing it themselves. In my work with clients on creating a business plan, the issue is not that they aren’t smart enough to create a plan — but that they get bogged down and never get around to it. Operating without a plan is very costly for the organization. As I’ve said to one potential client who asked why he should hire me — “I know you CAN do it, but WILL you?”

Tools are readily available, as noted here: Seth’s Blog: Tools vs. Craftsmen. But there is a big difference between buying a tool and buying a result. You can go to Home Depot and buy yourself a hammer to build yourself a house. Would you ever get it done? Would you be happy with the result? While the do-it-yourself trend is big in many industries, in others outsourcing is booming. Clearly the market offers a variety of choices for customers to choose what they want to do themselves and what they want to hire, based on their preferences.

I use a “tool” with my clients called The One Page Business Plan. It is a very simple tool for business planning. You can buy the book at Amazon.com for under $25 and write your own plan. Yet clients hire me to help them create a plan. The difference is that I am not selling a tool, I’m selling results. With my help, their business plan will be better and will be created faster than they could do on their own. With my help, they get the support they need to execute.

In your business, think about those things that your customers can do for themselves but instead pay you to do. Are you providing tools or results?