Stop Selling Services. Start Curing Pain.

Lessons from the field on diagnosing deeper issues and driving real outcomes with data.

Shifting from Delivering Work to Delivering Impact

A combination of a LinkedIn post by Sebastian Hewing and a coaching session I had with a close connection of mine inspired me this week. Sebastian covered the ins and outs of data strategy and the important pieces that allow stakeholders to realize the value of a data strategy. His framework paired with the coaching conversations I had sparked a lot of reflection on how I’ve been doing data strategy for my clients.

Specifically some of the data strategies I’ve assembled for my clients in healthcare. Furthermore, it begged the question for me - am I really articulating the problem, solution and outcomes we provide at Steinert Analytics in the best possible way? In this issue, I’m going to cover the importance of defining the problem for your clients and the hard lessons learned.

My goal in covering this is to showcase the real value for our healthcare clients by uncovering the core of their pain and problems. Furthermore, I hope this issue helps our potential customers see the grander vision of what we have to offer at Steinert Analytics.

Lastly, I’m using this piece as a reflection for myself and growth as a customer solutions engineer/data consulting agency founder. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, not truly seeing the REAL problems we solve for our clients. This issue is to make light of my mistakes and how I’m course correcting to maximize success for our clients.

Here we go…

What’s REALLY the Problem?

If there’s one thing I’m learning about consulting, it’s that the face value problem your clients are going through is usually just that - face value. Shame on me for having assumed the face value problem is the main problem in certain instances.

I tell mentors and coaches this all the time - having been a full time engineer for so long leads me down a narrow thinking path. Sometimes I default back to getting acceptance criteria and building rather than challenging WHY we are building in the first place.

In the same way with clients, it’s easy to take what your clients are telling you at face value. For healthcare, it might be that they have a ton of maintenance and overhead with their on prem data infrastructure. In an order taker mindset, the whole problem and solution path centers around that face value issue.

We’ve had clients with this exact problem, and a large part of our data strategy focused on fixing this issue. But was this REALLY the core problem within the company? Or a byproduct of something much deeper?

It’s up to you as the consultant/solutions engineer to ask questions that dig for more gold. To ask better questions, in my experience it’s about knowing the business model, being aware of organizational structure and culture, and the unit economics of the business.

I can’t get into too many details for any particular client we’ve served. However, what I can do is tell you to watch out for signs that point to a deeper pain point. Ask more questions!

How much data management has this client EVER had?

Who is currently building the reporting and analytics? If at all…

Beyond the infrastructure, where does this company think they’re behind?

How does the company use their current list of reports?

Do they lack confidence with the data quality/correctness?

How much time is spent working with stakeholders to answer useful questions?

These are just a few to get you started down the path of navigating deeper seated issues than having too much maintenance because of an on prem data infrastructure.

Moral of the story for defining a problem is to never run with what a client is telling you. Always pause to ask questions and observe the broader data ecosystem of a company. As a consultant, we are not there to explain and sell our services. We are there to reveal and take away their pains of running a business - ultimately driving efficiency and growth for their bottom line.

Why It’s Been Easy to Get Off Track?

I’ve heard this advice a million times in the past. You’re selling outcomes, not services. Identify the cure to their pain. Blah blah blah.

Why then is it easy to resort back to taking a client’s problem at face value? For me, it’s the fact that the stakeholders I interact with are often Director or VP level. They have extensive experience in an industry and it feels nice to serve them in a resource capacity instead of a consulting capacity.

However, only we as consultants know what our offerings can truly unlock for the growth potential and relief of a client. They’re often so caught in the day to day that they aren’t thinking about the grander vision as front and center. Instead, the micro wins like lessening time spent on infrastructure maintenance is seemingly the real problem.

It’s an immediate problem, but it’s not the problem.

It’s up to YOU to paint that grander vision for them. Give them the ammunition they need to guide their leadership board in a no brainer decision to bring your team in. That grander vision has followed a similar track to the below…

We’re not just lowering time spent on infrastructure costs. We’re building out your entire data management foundation as efficiently and cost effective as possible. No more time spent building manual reports and still not feeling like you have what you need to make decisions. Let us, a world class team of Architects and Engineers, guide you in the tools and reporting you need to grow your business exponentially, while modernizing your daily workflows for the Age of AI.

If this sounds energetic and exciting, it should! The consultant needs to be fired up when communicating these value unlocks for clients. If not, the client won’t get the message. You remove the pains of their daily work, you add the insights they need to grow and speed up their business. And you do this at a time to value way better than any other option. The end.

Thanks for Listening To My Ted Talk

Again, this was a very reflective issue for me. I’m not standing here saying that I’ve always had this figured out. I haven’t. Writing all this out on paper solidifies what I truly NEED to be doing as a consultant that offers world-class outcomes with data.

In the process, my hope is that potential clients and readers appreciate the transparency I’m sharing. Getting in this strategic mindset takes courage and reps. It’s not something easily learned in my experience. It’s about looking outside of the bubble of information you create with your client and seeing the bigger picture to advise them on the levers to pull.

Remove their pain, help them grow. Your services are just the vehicle to get there, and to get there efficiently.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. Feel free to reach out via LinkedIn. If you’re a healthcare company interested in talking data strategy, feel free to book a call with me here.

I greatly appreciate all of you! Until next week, have a good one.