WHY INVEST $89 BEFORE YOU ASK A CLIENT TO INVEST THOUSANDS?
For Advisors and Consultants Pursuing New Clients, Building Engagements, and Growing Their Practice
One $89 Business Constraint Diagnostic™ can help you win the right engagement, sharpen the scope of work, create additional professional-service opportunities, and determine what should be addressed before substantial client money is committed.
A prospective client tells you:
“We need more sales.”
“Our margins are too low.”
“My people aren't accountable.”
“Operations can't keep up.”
“We have a cash-flow problem.”
“Our strategy isn't working.”
Those problems may be real.
But before you recommend a solution—or ask the client to invest thousands or tens of thousands of dollars—there is a more important question:
IS THE PROBLEM THEY DESCRIBED THE PROBLEM THAT SHOULD BE ADDRESSED FIRST?
The $89 Business Constraint Diagnostic™ gives you another way to examine that question.
It can also become:
A FLEXIBLE PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS-DEVELOPMENT TOOL YOU CAN USE IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS.
Before a proposal. After a proposal. When competing for an engagement. As part of a paid diagnostic service. With an existing client. Before expanding an engagement. Or when broader management participation may be useful.
How you use it is up to you.
Four Reasons to Put the Diagnostic to Work
For a multi-thousand-dollar prospective engagement, you may choose to cover the $89 cost of the Diagnostic rather than asking the prospect to bear it.
The client completes the Diagnostic with your assistance. SAI evaluates the responses, prepares the individualized written diagnostic finding, and furnishes the finding to you.
That $89 capability can help you:
1. HELP WIN THE RIGHT ENGAGEMENT
Differentiate your approach before the prospect chooses you—or someone else.
2. DEFINE THE ENGAGEMENT MORE PRECISELY
Use additional diagnostic evidence to sharpen what should be addressed, what belongs within the scope, and what should happen first.
3. MAKE A BETTER DETERMINATION BEFORE WORK BEGINS
Reduce the risk of discovering after work starts that another condition should have received priority.
4. CREATE BETTER ADVISOR-CLIENT ALIGNMENT
Give yourself and the client a more specific basis for discussing what appears to be happening and what the engagement should address.
1. Help Win the Right Engagement
Suppose a prospect tells you:
“We have your proposal. We're also talking with two other firms.”
You could explain again why your firm is better.
You could reduce your fee.
You could add more services.
Or you could introduce a different question:
WHICH PROPOSAL ADDRESSES WHAT THE BUSINESS SHOULD ADDRESS FIRST?
One professional may recommend marketing. Another sales improvement. Another operations. Another leadership development.
All may be competent. All proposals may contain useful work.
But the client still has to determine:
WHICH WORK SHOULD RECEIVE PRIORITY?
The Diagnostic does not select the Advisor or determine which proposal is “best.”
It provides additional evidence about the probable governing constraint class and the structural condition that appears to warrant attention first.
Instead of merely saying:
“Here is why you should hire me.”
you can demonstrate:
“I'M WILLING TO TEST WHETHER THE WORK I'M PROPOSING IS WHAT YOUR BUSINESS SHOULD ADDRESS FIRST.”
That is a meaningful professional distinction.
2. Define the Engagement More Precisely
Winning the client is only part of the value.
The Diagnostic can also help determine what the engagement should actually include.
A proposal may begin broadly:
“Improve sales performance.”
“Strengthen operations.”
“Improve accountability.”
“Develop a new strategy.”
But the contract eventually needs greater specificity.
What condition should receive priority?
What belongs inside the scope?
What remains outside it?
What should happen first?
Does another professional capability need to be involved?
The written diagnostic finding gives you additional evidence before the final scope is established. You still apply your professional judgment.
The Diagnostic does not write the proposal or contract.
BETTER DIAGNOSTIC CLARITY CAN SUPPORT A MORE SPECIFIC SCOPE OF WORK.
3. Make a Better Determination Before Work Begins
Imagine beginning a $20,000 sales-improvement engagement.
Several weeks later, you discover recurring operational failures are damaging customer retention, repeat purchases, and referrals.
The sales problem was real.
But an Operational condition may have needed attention first.
Now:
Does the scope change?
Does the engagement pause?
Will additional fees be required?
Should another professional become involved?
The $89 Diagnostic cannot eliminate uncertainty. Additional investigation may still be required.
But it gives you another opportunity to examine what appears to be governing performance before substantial work begins.
Compare:
CONTRACT → BEGIN WORK → DISCOVER → CHANGE SCOPE
with:
DIAGNOSTIC → REVIEW → SCOPE → CONTRACT → BEGIN
EXAMINE WHAT SHOULD RECEIVE PRIORITY BEFORE YOU COMMIT THE CLIENT TO THE WORK.
4. Create Better Advisor-Client Alignment
Before an engagement begins, the client and Advisor may be working from different assumptions.
The client says:
“Here is what I think is wrong.”
The Advisor says:
“Here is what I think should be done.”
The Diagnostic introduces another perspective:
“Here is what the diagnostic evidence indicates.”
That can make the discussion more specific:
What does the client expect?
What do you recommend?
What will the engagement address?
What will it not address?
What should happen first?
The Diagnostic does not replace professional judgment.
IT GIVES PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE TO CONSIDER.
SAI Does Not Tell You How to Price or Package Your Professional Services
SAI SHOWS YOU WAYS TO PUT THE DIAGNOSTIC TO WORK.
You determine how the Diagnostic fits into your practice, what you charge your client, how you package your professional services, and what engagement—if any—should follow.
SAI provides the Diagnostic and written finding. You decide how to use that capability within your client relationship.
The examples below are practical ways to pursue new business, strengthen existing client relationships, define engagements more precisely, and create additional professional-service opportunities.
They are examples—not pricing requirements or prescribed business models.
How Can You Use the Diagnostic in Your Practice?
There is no single required use.
BEFORE YOU PREPARE THE PROPOSAL
Use the finding to help determine what should receive priority before deciding what work to recommend.
Potential value: A more specific, better-informed proposal.
AFTER YOU HAVE PREPARED THE PROPOSAL
Test the assumptions behind the work you are recommending.
Potential value: Confirm, modify, or resequence the proposed engagement.
WHEN YOU ARE COMPETING FOR THE CLIENT
Introduce diagnostic evidence rather than relying only on another presentation about why your firm is better.
Potential value: Differentiate your professional process.
INSTEAD OF DISCOUNTING YOUR PROFESSIONAL FEE
When pursuing a multi-thousand-dollar engagement, consider whether investing $89 in diagnostic clarity creates more value than reducing your professional fee.
Potential value: Add something substantive to the sales process without discounting your professional value.
AS PART OF A PAID DIAGNOSTIC SERVICE
Use the Diagnostic and written finding as one component of a broader service that includes your professional involvement, analysis, or recommendations.
Potential value: Create a defined diagnostic service before a larger engagement.
AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ENGAGEMENT
Use the Diagnostic before substantial work begins.
Potential value: Sharpen priorities and scope before significant time and money are committed.
WHEN AN EXISTING CLIENT BRINGS YOU A NEW PROBLEM
Do not automatically assume the new problem has the same cause as the previous one.
Potential value: Reassess what should receive priority before expanding the engagement.
BEFORE RENEWING OR EXPANDING AN ENGAGEMENT
Conditions may have changed since the original engagement began.
Potential value: Identify what the next phase should address rather than automatically continuing the previous scope.
WHEN THE FINDING POINTS OUTSIDE YOUR EXPERTISE
The evidence may indicate that something outside your specialty deserves priority.
Potential value: Modify, resequence, collaborate, or refer rather than forcing the client into your existing service.
WHEN THE PROSPECT IS NOT READY FOR A LARGE ENGAGEMENT
A prospect may hesitate because they are not convinced what should be addressed first.
The Diagnostic provides a much smaller starting point.
Potential value: Create a concrete diagnostic next step instead of ending the conversation with “call me when you're ready.”
How Can the Diagnostic Help You Grow Your Practice?
The opportunities generally fall into two categories.
NEW BUSINESS
The Diagnostic may help you:
differentiate your approach;
create a smaller first step for a hesitant prospect;
strengthen or test a proposal;
create a paid diagnostic service;
and
demonstrate Diagnosis Before Prescription.
None guarantees a sale.
But each gives you another professional way to pursue one.
MORE VALUE FROM EXISTING CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS
The Diagnostic may help you:
reassess when a new problem appears;
determine whether conditions have changed;
identify a better-defined next phase;
support appropriate additional advisory work;
determine whether another professional capability is needed;
and
identify when broader management participation may provide useful evidence.
The objective is not to manufacture additional work.
LET THE DIAGNOSTIC HELP DETERMINE WHETHER MORE—OR DIFFERENT—WORK IS WARRANTED.
When it is, that may create an additional professional-service opportunity.
When it isn't, don't manufacture one.
That is Diagnosis Before Prescription applied to practice development.
When One Diagnostic Raises a Broader Question
Sometimes an individual Diagnostic is enough.
Sometimes the finding raises another question:
WOULD IT HELP TO KNOW HOW OTHER MANAGERS OR EXECUTIVES SEE THE BUSINESS?
That is where an SAI Cohort Diagnostic may become useful.
A Cohort Diagnostic extends the evidence beyond one person's perspective. Appropriate managers or executives complete the Diagnostic individually, allowing the Advisor to examine where management perspectives converge, where they differ, and whether broader participation reveals important conditions that may not be visible from a single viewpoint.
The purpose is not to turn every individual Diagnostic into a Cohort. It is to give the Advisor another source of diagnostic evidence when broader management perspective would be useful.
The Advisor-Funded Diagnostic Process
When you choose to purchase the Diagnostic for use with a prospective or existing client:
1. ADVISOR PURCHASES THE $89 DIAGNOSTIC
2. CLIENT COMPLETES THE DIAGNOSTIC WITH THE ADVISOR'S ASSISTANCE
3. SAI EVALUATES THE RESPONSES AND PREPARES THE WRITTEN FINDING
4. SAI FURNISHES THE WRITTEN FINDING TO THE ADVISOR
That's SAI's role in the transaction.
What you charge your client, how you package your professional involvement, and what you subsequently recommend are decisions you make within your own practice.
What Does the $89 Diagnostic Provide?
The Business Constraint Diagnostic™ contains 81 targeted questions and takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Responses are evaluated collectively across all Seven Classes of Business Constraint™.
SAI prepares an individualized 2,200+ word written diagnostic finding within 72 hours after submission.
The finding explains the probable governing constraint class, the structural condition that appears to be limiting performance, where it appears to operate, how it may relate to visible problems, why previous efforts may have missed it, and what corrective direction warrants attention.
The Diagnostic does not write your proposal, determine your fee, automatically define your scope, perform your consulting work, resolve the governing constraint, or replace your professional judgment.
THE DIAGNOSTIC PROVIDES ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE.
YOU DECIDE WHAT THAT EVIDENCE MEANS FOR THE ENGAGEMENT.
What Happens After You Receive the Finding?
There are four responsible possibilities.
CONFIRM
The evidence supports the type of work you expected to recommend.
MODIFY
Your professional capability remains appropriate, but the scope should change.
RESEQUENCE
Your work may be needed, but something else should receive attention first.
REFER
The condition warranting priority falls outside your expertise.
THE FINDING HAS TO BE ALLOWED TO CHANGE YOUR RECOMMENDATION.
Otherwise, it is not being used diagnostically.
What Could You Say to a Prospect?
Keep it simple:
“Before I ask you to invest thousands of dollars in this engagement, I want us to have additional evidence that the work I'm recommending is what your business should address first. I use the SAI Business Constraint Diagnostic™ for that purpose. It contains 81 targeted questions and takes approximately 30 minutes. I'll assist you as you complete it. SAI will evaluate the responses and prepare an individualized 2,200+ word written diagnostic finding. I'll use that finding as additional evidence before I finalize what I recommend.”
The message is simple:
YOU DIAGNOSE BEFORE YOU PRESCRIBE.
What If the Finding Supports What You Expected?
Good. Confirmation is a valid diagnostic outcome. Use the finding as additional evidence as you determine the appropriate scope and next steps.
THE DIAGNOSTIC DOES NOT HAVE TO SURPRISE YOU TO HAVE VALUE.
What If It Doesn't?
Then allow the evidence to change what you recommend. That may require you to modify the scope, change the sequence, collaborate with another professional, or refer the work.
IF THE FINDING CANNOT CHANGE THE PROPOSAL, IT IS NOT BEING USED AS A DIAGNOSTIC.
One Diagnostic. Many Ways to Put It to Work.
The Business Constraint Diagnostic™ can support new-business development, proposal evaluation, engagement definition, existing-client reassessment, appropriate engagement expansion, referral decisions, and broader Cohort participation when warranted.
You decide which applications make sense for your practice.
SAI DOES NOT TELL YOU HOW TO PRICE OR PACKAGE YOUR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES.
SAI SHOWS YOU WAYS TO PUT THE DIAGNOSTIC TO WORK.
Before Your Next Major Client Engagement
Ask yourself:
WOULD $89 OF DIAGNOSTIC CLARITY HELP ME MAKE A BETTER $10,000, $25,000, OR $50,000 RECOMMENDATION?
If yes, use the Diagnostic. Review the finding.
Or, when broader management participation would provide useful evidence:
EXPAND TO A COHORT DIAGNOSTIC.
The objective is not to sell the client more. The objective is to determine what work is warranted.
When the evidence supports additional work, that may create an additional professional-service opportunity.
[USE THE $89 BUSINESS CONSTRAINT DIAGNOSTIC™ WITH A CLIENT →]
[LEARN ABOUT COHORT DIAGNOSTICS →]
