The Trusted Advisor Series: The Art (& Value) of Framing an Issue

In a pivotal scene in the 2016 movie The Founder, about how Ray Kroc turned the rights to franchise McDonalds into the empire it is today, Kroc, played by Michael Keaton, is seen being turned down for a bank loan. That conversation is overheard by Harry Sonneborn, a consultant, played by B.J. Novak, who then approaches Kroc offering advice to turn around his then-struggling business.

After reviewing the company’s weak financials, Sonneborn asks “Tell me about the land,” inquiring about the details behind the properties upon which Kroc’s McDonalds franchises sit. When he discovers that Kroc’s franchisees pick the land and lease the properties themselves, he challenges Kroc’s entire business model.

“You don’t seem to realize what business you’re in,” he boldly says. “You’re not in the burger business, you’re in the real estate business.” He then goes on to explain that “You don’t build an empire off of a 1.4% cut of a 15¢ hamburger. You build it, by owning the land upon which that burger is cooked.”

Unlike an order taker, who responds to whatever their client asks for, a trusted advisor seeks to make sure the right problem is identified before crafting a solution.

What Kroc should be doing, he urges, is buying up sites for the restaurants and then leasing them to the franchisees, who can only operate those franchises on Kroc’s land. Kroc adopted Sonneborn’s strategy, the company exploded, and the rest, as they say, is history.

What Sonneborn does in that scene is a prime example of framing, a key trait of trusted advisors, which involves asking probing questions and challenging a client’s initial assumptions to get at the root of the issue before crafting a solution.

Problem Identification vs. Problem Solution

People in the events business, like the broader hospitality industry, strive to make their clients happy. With the client-is-always-right adage seared into their brains, most event professionals take pride in doing exactly what the client wants. And if the client has done a good job of thinking through how best to accomplish their goals, this is a fine strategy.

If you want to be treated as a trusted advisor, someone who that senior-level client truly comes to for guidance, you have to push back, if what the client is asking for will not deliver the big picture results they want.

What happens, however, when the client is wrong? Not in determining their business objectives – only they can do that – but in deciding how to design and plan an event to achieve those goals? In that instance, the eager-to-please event professional could deliver a flawless event exactly to the client’s specifications, but it won’t achieve the client’s ultimate goal. Designing an effective solution only works if the client has correctly identified what the problem actually is. Unlike an order taker, who responds to whatever their client asks for, a trusted advisor seeks to make sure the right problem is identified before crafting a solution.

Protecting the Client From Themselves

Imagine going to your financial advisor and telling her you want to put half your savings into Bitcoin because some of your friends have made a killing on it, and you want in on the action. An order taker processes the trade for you and asks, “anything else?”

A trusted advisor, on the other hand, pushes back, warns you against putting so much of your portfolio into such a risky investment, and explains the importance of diversification. In the end, you can force them to do it, even if they think it’s the equivalent of setting your money on fire, but they won’t do so without doing everything they can to talk some sense into you. They’re looking out for your best interests, even if it goes against what you’re asking for. In fact, it’s their job to do so!

Challenging a client’s assumptions in the event business is much harder, however. For one thing, there’s often a significant power disparity between the client looking to host the event and the planner tasked with organizing it. Often that entails someone at a manager or director level having to question the desires of c-suite executives or managing directors. Further, despite years of talking about having a seat at the table, planners are still frequently viewed in an administrative capacity. And it’s easy to see why; that same managing director might task his assistant with planning client dinners and other smaller events, usually with successful results.

But if you want to be treated as a trusted advisor, someone who that senior-level client truly comes to for guidance, you have to push back if what the client is asking for will not deliver the big picture results they want.

How to Frame

Each situation is obviously very different, and it’s unlikely you’ll ever be in a position to actually tell a client, “you don’t seem to realize what business you’re in,” as Sonneborn tells Kroc. But there are some basic steps you can follow to exercise framing with your client.

1. Keep asking probing questions until you get to the root issue. Your client wants you to organize a booth at the XYZ industry trade show. Why, what’s the goal? To generate more business. Sales are down, and this show is where our target customers are. Do we think people will buy our services if they stop at this booth? Probably not. It takes time to develop relationships with them. Can we develop relationships with them in the two or three minutes they stop by our booth? Amid the chaos of the show floor? No, but we can at least start the process. How will we stand out and make an impression, when we’re one among dozens of competitors? We’ll give away something. Pens with our logos. Branded USB chargers; everyone always needs those.

2. Validate what you heard. After you’ve got your arms around the real issue, repeat back it back to them. Not their original ask, but what you’ve uncovered based on your digging. What I’m hearing is that we need to drive sales, that our prospects are at this show, and that we need the time and space to develop relationships with them before they buy. Does that sound right?People like to feel heard, and by demonstrating that you care enough to really dig deep and uncover the core issue they’re concerned about shows that you get them. They feel validated, and that earns you their trust.

3. Present options to address the root issue. Now that you’ve correctly diagnosed the problem, you can set about devising a solution. Given what we’ve discussed, I’m not sure a booth will get us the results we want. It’s not conducive to relationship-building, and we’d be competing for people’s attention in a very short window while they’re distracted. What if instead we hosted an intimate reception for one hundred of our top prospects one evening during the show? We’d have all our sales reps working the room, zero competition, and plenty of time to have the kind of deeper conversations we need to build those relationships. You can get up and say a few words to introduce the firm, we control the branding, everything. And if you still want to have a booth, then we should use it as a vehicle to promote the reception. This may cost more, but it’s much more likely to deliver the ROI we’re looking for.

Encountering Resistance

Let’s say, however, that your client’s a stubborn one. He’s really wedded to the booth idea – he equates all the hustle and bustle of the show floor with action, like a casino or a trading floor – and wants to go all in on it. You know in your gut it’s not going to get him the results he wants. You want to push back – you need to push back – but you don’t want to butt heads with him. Here are a few phrases you can use to diplomatically get your point across.

• Take the blame for not explaining your idea properly and try again. I hear you, and in the end it’s your call of course. But I feel like I haven’t done a good enough job explaining why I think the reception concept is more likely to achieve your goals. Let me try to frame this a different way.

• Put your client in the shoes of the target attendee. What’s the name of one of our biggest prospects? Jane Smith? OK, you’re Jane Smith. You’re at the show, zigzagging your way through the aisles. Every booth has someone clamoring for you to step into their space and hear their pitch. You feel like a gazelle with a bum leg on the Serengeti being ogled by hungry lions. Let’s say our booth is so compelling, you decide to take a look. Our products are great, and you’re actually eager to learn more. You leave your card and we scan your badge. But then you walk ten feet down the aisle and step into another booth. Then another. Then another. By the end of the show how much do you actually remember about our firm?

• “I’d be remiss if . . .” If you get to the point where you’re still not getting through, and might have to plan and execute a strategy you know is likely to fail, and continuing to push back will anger your client and damage your relationship, it’s time to pull out the magic phrase before moving on. OK, I’ve made my case, and I appreciate you hearing me out. I see you still want to move ahead with just doing a booth. But I’d be remiss (or it would be negligent of me) in my professional responsibilities if I didn’t state clearly that I don’t think this will get us the results we want.

Mad Men and the Art of Framing

One of my favorite television shows is Mad Men, and my favorite parts are the scenes where Don Draper, the creative head of the fictional Sterling Cooper ad agency, pitches his concepts to the firm’s clients or prospects. It’s a clinic in marketing strategy, storytelling, and selling ideas to clients. When Don crafts a product’s advertising approach in a completely different – but brilliant – direction than what the clients originally asked for, he’s taking the concept of framing to an art form.

The best example is when Kodak is vetting ad agencies to see who has the best campaign for their new slide projector. The engineers at Kodak, with great pride, have invented a circular device that rotates slides. They call it The Wheel, and want the agencies to showcase their new technology, even talking about how they ‘reinvented the wheel’, so to speak.

 Draper takes a completely different approach. With the Kodak execs in the room, he turns down the lights and uses the projector to display slides of him and his family through the years while narrating a story about nostalgia. After tearing at their heartstrings, he ends by saying, “It’s not called The Wheel. It’s called The Carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels, round and round, and back home again. To a place, where we know we are loved.”

When the lights go back on, the Kodak people are stunned, emotionally blown away. Seeing their reactions, Duck Phillips (yes, that’s his name; ah, the good old days), Sterling Cooper’s head of accounts, delivers the coup de grace, “Good luck at your next meeting.”

Conclusion

Over the years, I’ve written and spoken more about being a trusted advisor than any other topic, the most covered aspect of which has been how to measure and calculate the value of your event (ROI), and then prove that value to stakeholders However, without proper framing, you may very well be measuring an event that doesn’t really get at the client’s core issue. Because without framing, you don’t know what that issue is.

Of the various steps involved in being a trusted advisor, framing is easily the most difficult and requires the most finesse. It pushes you outside your comfort zone, and asks you to challenge the assumptions of a more senior leader. Yet it’s also the most rewarding, and hands-down provides the most value for a client.

Additional Resources    

• Helping Clients Define & Weight Event Goals

• Building Attribution Models

• Driving the Value Proposition of Your In-House Event Team

• Getting (& Keeping) A Seat At the Table: Strategies for Being A Trusted Advisor