What a dream client wants

If you believe your dream client is always right and that it’s your job to sell him what he wants without question, he will never perceive you as a peer. You will be seen as a commodity, just another salesperson operating on a purely transactional basis.

What you want is to be perceived as a peer. A peer challenges his dream client’s thinking when it needs to be challenged. A peer makes sure that whatever he and his client work on together becomes the biggest value-creating initiative they can dream up. A peer does not avoid the difficult issues surrounding the results a client wants.

If you are afraid you will lose your opportunity by bringing other stakeholders into the decision-making process, then you’re not really in control of that process. You’re not giving your dream client good advice and, I am afraid to say, you are not a peer. A peer doesn’t run from additional stakeholders but strives to build consensus among them.