Like a Surgeon
Last week at my Strategy & Sales Intensive I worked with several entrepreneurs on the design, pricing, packaging, and structure of their service offerings. We had an eclectic mix of individuals with expertise including IT project management, personal branding, digital content management, and high-end resort hospitality.
One of the main themes of the event was to think “Like a Surgeon.”
All of our business results flow from our self-concept.
How we see ourselves will determine our behavior in any situation which will then determine our ultimate results.
As Nathaniel Branden writes, “Self-concept is destiny.”
So the biggest part of strategy for entrepreneurs is actually your self-concept.
When you design and present your offerings, what is your self-concept? How do you see yourself?
It really is the fundamental question. Everything else is just details.
The amateur designs his/her offerings based on what is reasonable and affordable.
The master designs his/her offerings based on what is really necessary for the client to achieve a desired outcome.
To drill this idea into our heads, I referenced the song “Like a Surgeon.” For those of you who grew up in the 1980’s, you will remember Weird Al Yankovic, who parodied Madonna’s Like a Virgin with Like a Surgeon.
It is a horribly cheesy song and video, but hopefully it will make the idea stick.
And you, unlike Weird Al, are not “Cuttin’ for the very first time.”
You know what you are doing because you’ve done it before.
You’ve seen enough situations and variations thereof to guide a client from their current state to their desired future state.
But the biggest thing standing in your way is your own self-concept.
So start thinking of yourself like a surgeon.
The surgeon is the expert specialist.
The surgeon diagnoses the client’s condition thoroughly.
The surgeon recommends a specific treatment plan to include pre-op tests, the surgery itself, and the recovery.
The surgeon lays out the full treatment plan for the client so the client knows the full prognosis, roadmap, and investment of time, money, and energy needed. The client also knows additional investments required outside of your services.
When the client has concerns about the treatment plan or the investment, the surgeon discusses options in terms of risks and trade-offs and engages the client in a mutual decision process.
The surgeon has a certain threshold of non-negotiables. The surgeon will not accept you as a patient if you are looking to cut corners.
The surgeon does not operate until the client has agreed to the plan. When the surgeon does operate, the surgeon directs the process.
Here’s one example of how this thinking applies pricing and package design.
A business coach offers a 4-month coaching package. The reason? It fits her business model and lifestyle goals, which is great.
But the problem now is how to present this to the client. If I am the client and I’m presented with a 4-month package, my mind is immediately wondering “what does 4-months have to do with solving my problem?” It also potentially seems self-serving to the service provider.
Instead, you must design your service offerings to match the nature of the problem. You must present your offerings in terms of how the duration of your service offering matches the nature of the client’s problem and desired results.
This approach increases the client’s trust in you, since they now see that you actually understand their problem and have a solution to it. And that you are thinking about them, not you.
For example, my service offerings have an up-front strategy phase followed by an ongoing implementation and skill-integration phase. Why? Because growing a business requires a shift in strategy, skillset, and mindset. The strategy can be developed relatively quickly, but getting things dialed-in and working smoothly takes time. I’ve done this enough with clients from small businesses to large corporations to understand the process.
One way to think like a surgeon, which created a huge breakthrough for one participant in particular, was this question:
“If a client completely surrendered and submitted to your authority and fully trusted you to get the results they want, what would you do?”
Because when you trust a surgeon, that’s essentially what’s happening. You are saying “Hey, doc. My life is in your hands.”
As soon as she thought of her service offerings in these terms, she immediately laid out her process. It literally took her less than a minute to define it:
First A, then B.
Two simple steps, that’s it.
Part A would take 30 to 60 days calendar time. Part A has a couple of variables, so a few simple questions in the sales process determine the length of part A.
Part B is then a continuity plan.
How easy is that?
Very easy when you think like a surgeon.
The only hard part now is to carry that self-concept of a surgeon into your sales calls. But that hard part is only in your mind. Remember that you are the expert.
The great thing about thinking like a surgeon is that the best clients really want a true expert. The client is relying on your expert leadership in this specific domain. So lead them. (As we will discuss later, most of their objections are really ways of testing you to see if you are strong enough to lead them where they truly want to go.)
Are you willing to think “like a surgeon?”
