Common Misunderstandings About Client Needs

I've seen too many enterprise software companies get caught with customers in the 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽: • Promise too much = lose focus • Listen too little = lose trust I was super lucky to have two incredibly product-minded co-founders in Ted and Joshua. Of the many things I learned from them, one that has really stuck with me is that while customers understand their pain points better than anyone, they're not best positioned to solve that pain - they're too close to it and just don't have as many data points across variants of that pain, resulting in a failure of imagination as to the optimal solution. Customer feedback is absolute gold, but that doesn't mean every nugget should get directly translated into the product roadmap. The topic came up during the AMA after our Logicbroker All Hands last week - here's what I shared with my team:  1. 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 - Make sure the customer is heard and build a 3D model of their pain in your head by probing into the granular details of what they're dealing with 2. 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 - Thank them for the feedback and communicate how this will inform related product research as we work towards an optimal solution 3. 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 - Have we already solved this pain point, but in a counterintuitive way? Educate the customer on how other clients are successfully handling this today. Encourage them to try it out and share back additional feedback to round out our understanding 4. 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 - Advocate for clients by employing methodologies like RICE (Reach x Impact x Confidence / Effort) to map feedback to prospective projects in a structured way that will automatically reprioritize initiatives as incremental data points are collected over time  5. 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 - In subsequent client QBRs, share new learnings around initiatives their feedback has matured. Be transparent about where they fall in the company's priorities and update on new related releases that may partially address their original pain point  Valuing customer feedback and protecting the product roadmap are not mutually exclusive. These two goals are inherently intertwined and mutually reinforcing. Building every client request will degrade the product, but ignoring client feedback will also degrade the product - it's a fine balance. Customers don't need a 'yes' - they need to be able to trust that you're listening and leading with purpose.

Most people misunderstand why clients truly need them. They believe clients seek their services for the end results: - Better website copy - Marketing materials - LinkedIn content - More leads But that's not the real reason. Clients need you because of what they lack: - Passion they can't muster - Skills they haven't developed - Knowledge they don't possess Consider this revelation from one of our copywriting clients: His prospects weren't seeking him for his writing abilities. They weren't looking for LinkedIn posts or website content. They needed him because writing felt like a burden. This shift in perspective transforms everything: - What signals you notice from prospects - The way you present your solutions - How you identify opportunities When you grasp this truth, your entire approach changes. Instead of saying "I'll write your copy," you communicate "I'll remove this burden from your plate." And suddenly, prospects lean in. Because nobody wants another service provider. They want someone who understands their true pain points. Someone who recognizes what they're really missing. This understanding makes all the difference. It's not about what you do. It's about what they need.

The old saying 'the customer is always right' misses a crucial point: customers are experts at identifying their problems, not necessarily their solutions. In my years of working with clients, I've noticed a fascinating pattern. Customers can articulate their pain points with remarkable clarity, the inefficiencies that keep them up at night, the workflows that make them pull their hair out. They can tell you exactly what isn't working. But when it comes to envisioning solutions? That's where things get interesting. This is not a weakness, it is simply human nature. We're all better at figuring out what frustrates us than giving solutions. This is where the art of designing solutions comes in. Our job isn't just to take requirements at face value, but to read between the lines and dig deeper into underlying challenges. Some of our most successful implementations came from solutions that initially seemed counterintuitive to clients. But by focusing on outcomes rather than preconceived solutions, we've consistently delivered results that exceeded expectations. The real magic happens when we stop asking customers what they want and start investigating what they need. Great solutions often emerge from the space between what's asked for and what's actually required. If you ever said, “the customer is not clear what they want” you either lack solution mindset, or you misunderstood the role of the customer!