What do you think about the long-standing practice in our business of offering clients A, B and C options as part of a presentation?

It is just dead wrong as it is generally practiced today. With due respect to Burt Miezel (a major proponent), this is an approach that no longer has validity in today’s world. You have to stop being an “optioneer” if you want to be a most trusted advisor to your clients.

The problem is three-fold.

First, by offering optional solutions to a client problem, you demonstrate that you have not likely done sufficient diagnosis of the problem to direct them specifically.

Secondly, if you won’t tell your clients what to do, why do they need you anyway? Clients need leadership, guidance and advice more today then ever. They want to know what to do specifically. They need your professional opinion. They don’t want to go with their gut and just guess. Doctors do not routinely give options for treatment. They do their homework and then set your course of treatment.

After all, how can a “non-expert” be expected to make the appropriate decision without qualifications? You have to prescribe – like a doctor. When you do, you build trust and confidence.

Finally, studies continue to show what we have always known anyway. When advisors insist on making clients choose from among options, they create unnecessary client frustration. We know this intuitively because almost every time you offer an A, B or C selection, clients invariably say something like, ”What would you do?” They want your help.

They have been asking for real help for years and we have been just compounding their problems by laying out options. We weren’t paying close enough attentionWe can now.

The intention was good. The impact was not.

So, what can you do instead? Commit to knowing your business and your client well enough that you can be sure that you have a solid plan for your client. Remember, “You have to know your stuff, know who you’re stuffing, and then you can stuff them.”

When you do, you can confidently recommend what you would do in their place. Yes, it’s not likely that every expert’s recommendation will be the same but that’s OK. Doctors don’t agree on everything either. You just have to be able to back up your ideas. Keep good files and “show your work”.

When you prescribe well thought out solutions, you build better relationships with happier clients.