{"id":7574,"date":"2018-03-06T10:13:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T10:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brainlabsdigital.com\/?p=7574"},"modified":"2025-06-20T19:09:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T19:09:57","slug":"how-to-present-a-recommendation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brainlabsdigital.com\/how-to-present-a-recommendation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to present a recommendation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A follow-up to How to use the MECE framework<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

My first consulting success was down to pure luck. If I had been collaborating with any other client, it would\u2019ve gone the other way. The point of contact was a woman handling digital marketing for a SaaS startup. She was a direct communicator \u2014 an all-around effective individual.<\/p>\n

Her company had provisionally signed off on a one-month engagement. Our goal was to create a digital marketing strategy for the upcoming year. If the powers that be approved this strategy, they would extend their commitment to Distilled for a full year. We would put the plan into action together.<\/p>\n

Now, I had prepared for this project. Even before the kickoff, I assembled all the data I could. And after, I followed up with the client team for a qualitative angle. A towering hierarchy of spreadsheets, diagrams, and summaries enumerated all the relevant facts I had collected.<\/p>\n

In four weeks, I put together what I thought was a winning plan. It centered on a new content strategy. This content strategy would position the client as empathetic to, and inclusive of, their most likely growth market.<\/p>\n

The deadline for delivery arrived. I sat down with the client (virtually \u2014 she preferred Skype) and revealed to her my recommendations and approach. The key to my presentation was a diagram (I preferred Visio) visualizing my strategy. I used every minute of that hour. No detail of my vision was left out.<\/p>\n

To my lasting horror, the point of contact was unimpressed with my diagram. She didn\u2019t criticize my recommendations or methodology. But she did tell me that she hadn\u2019t got what she was looking for. She wanted a report \u2014 in full prose.<\/p>\n

She even went so far as to outline the document. It was a straightforward narrative that walked through how I\u2019d come to my conclusion. I thought: I\u2019ve done all this research. I\u2019ve made a recommendation. Isn\u2019t writing this down a waste of time?<\/p>\n

Still, I prepared everything exactly as she suggested. I delivered it to the client with low expectations of success. But something about that report worked. After brief deliberations, her company signed on for a year of work with Distilled. We coached them as they experimented with a new content strategy. Years later the company has tripled down on that content. They\u2019ve evolved so that \u2014 unless you were there \u2014 it would be hard to see the kernel from which their strategy grew.<\/p>\n

When that year was up, and our relationship drew to an end, I reflected on how we\u2019d got there. Here\u2019s that report in my left hand; here\u2019s the mass of research in my right. I saw that it wasn\u2019t enough that I found a solution. To change the client\u2019s approach, I had to take her on that journey of discovery, too. I needed to show her so that she saw the problem as I saw it.<\/p>\n

I was lucky to have a client who could help me see her point of view \u2014 to paint a clear picture for me. She clarified what she needed to understand to make things happen. I asked myself: How can I apply this lesson to my other clients?<\/em><\/p>\n

The Effecting Change<\/em> series has a shared thread: how do we convince a client to change? The last post showed how to discover a plausible alternative action<\/a><\/em>. Once you have it, you must share it with the client. This post is an answer to the question:<\/p>\n

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How can I make a recommendation so that the client follows it?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We\u2019ll introduce a simple three-step process: suggest, demonstrate,<\/em> and elaborate<\/em>. This method can be applied to any recommendation you make.<\/p>\n