Providing Relief and Meeting a Need in Business

The first stage of building a business is to discover what people need and want and then provide for them. This is creating value. All successful businesses create value by providing relief to a person’s pain point. If people don’t need or want the service, the business hasn’t created value and won’t be able to survive.

I choose to talk about pain and relief in business, that is, the businesses purpose of providing relief to the client’s pain. But I could choose to use different words. It’s common to hear problem and solution, that is, the business provides a solution to the client’s problem. We could also say before and after, that is, the business takes the client from where they were before they used the business to where they are after they used the business.

Use whatever word resonates most with you.

Providing Relief and Meeting a Need in Business

The main thing to appreciate at this point is that all businesses must have a service that provides relief to whatever pain-point the client faces. The client will seek the business to have their problem solved.

The client will face many pain-points throughout their life and on a daily basis. A pain-point may not be having a plaster that matches the colour of a person’s skin. A pain-point may be feeling angry that estate-agents don’t care about the welfare of tenants.

Here are more examples of the pain-points we may face…

The business owner’s job is to understand the nature of the client’s pain-point and set about providing relief for that pain!

If a client states that they have a difficult relationship with their child, relief may be a more understanding relationship, a generally better relationship (whatever that means for the client). Through research and directly communicating with their client, the business owner must learn the ins and outs of how to provide relief. Relief may come in many forms!

Below are some very rudimental examples of relief for a person’s pain…

Let’s say we learn that the client wants a better relationship with their child, and this means more understanding, more patience and more communication. Now the business owner has one challenge – how will they promote understanding, patience and communication between the client and their child? This, of course, can also be done in a number of ways.

Below are rudimental examples of ways to relieve a person’s pain…

The business owner’s mission is to create new and innovative ways to provide relief for their client’s unique set of pain-points. The process will be creative and collaborative, even if it is provided to many people at once (in the form of a book, for instance).

Don’t forget that clients are going to have pain-points relating to your specific service or product and the ways in which you provide for their needs. These pain-points also need to be addressed and relieved.

Here is a list of common pain-points I hear as a professional therapist and coach…

If somebody believes that therapists don’t really care, I want to show them that I care! I want to do my very best to give my client a person – myself as a therapist– who cares about them. People deserve to have their pain relieved, their problems solved and to reach the “after” to their “before”.

A person may approach your business ready and willing to pay for your service. This is great news. But don’t just take their money! First, figure out what they really want and what they really need. What are they truthfully looking for?

I know it sounds strange – people do not know what they really want. They don’t know the true, deeper reason why they buy what they buy. This is normal and totally fine! It’s our job, as business owners, to offer them what they truly want. If it is what they truly want, they’ll be willing to do business with you and will be a very happy client.

What does your client really want? A couple organising a wedding may seek out a wedding photographer. They may be thinking to themselves, “I want my guests to have a great day at my wedding”. They may be thinking, “All couples I know have a wedding photographer and I don’t want to seem like a werido if I don’t have one!”.

Here the couple may have the pain of fearing judgement from guests or they may have the pain of not being able to take great photos themselves (or both). Either way, the couple will seek out the help of a wedding photographer because the professional can provide them with relief.

The relief is not just photos – the relief is feeling confident that their guests will have a great, memorable day. The relief may be in avoiding potential judgement of seeming cheap and strange.

The couple really wanted peace of mind and confidence that they’ll have a great wedding party! And the photographer needs to provide them with that relief!

Providing relief and meeting a need in business is at the heart of business. The job of a business owner is to learn what people need support with and to provide them with the best quality relief possible.

Written and created by Lily Llewellyn, a therapists and business coach.