Most consultants get this wrong. They walk into meetings and immediately start prescribing solutions.

“You should redesign your homepage.”

“You should hire more people.”

“You should change your pricing.”

This approach fails. Here’s why.

The Problem with Prescriptions

When consultants say “you should,” they’re making two dangerous assumptions.

First, they assume they can allocate client resources. But consultants don’t see the full picture. They don’t know about every project, dependency, or political landmine. That “simple” homepage redesign might require security reviews, legal approval, and three different teams. What seems straightforward often isn’t.

Second, they’re bundling diagnosis with solution. When someone says “you should do X,” they’re asking the client to accept both the problem analysis and the proposed fix. If the client disagrees with either part, the whole recommendation gets rejected.

What Complexity Looks Like

A consultant once suggested a client retag their content. Seemed logical. But the client had just spent six figures doing exactly that. Asking for more budget would make the team look incompetent internally.

Another consultant recommended updating landing pages. Turned out those pages were owned by the product team and shared the same codebase as the main application. A “quick fix” required extensive security testing and QA.

The complexity isn’t always technical. Sometimes it’s political. Sometimes it’s regulatory. Sometimes it’s just that the company tried this before and it didn’t work.

The Better Approach

Instead of “you should,” try “there’s an opportunity to.”

This phrase separates problem from solution. It lets clients understand the size of the opportunity before deciding how to tackle it.

One consultant working with an ecommerce site wanted them to invest in content strategy. Instead of saying “you should create more content,” they showed competitor analysis. Traffic potential. Revenue estimates. They quantified what was possible.

The client could see the opportunity. Then they worked together to design the solution.

Show, Don’t Tell

Evidence beats opinion. Always.

A consultant working with Gartner felt their landing pages were underperforming. Instead of arguing about it, they ran a user survey with 10 questions. The data was clear. Executive attention followed immediately.

When the problem is quantified, you don’t even need to propose a solution. The client often figures it out themselves.

Collaborate as Partners

The best consultants don’t position themselves as the expert with all the answers. They work alongside their clients to examine problems together.

This matters especially with senior executives. Type-A leaders don’t want to be told what to do. They want to see what you see. Help them discover the problem themselves.

The Simple Test

Before making any recommendation, ask yourself: What happens if they do nothing?

If you can’t quantify the consequence of inaction, you’re not ready to propose action.

Problems without evidence are just opinions. Clients pay for insights, not opinions.

Reality Check

This approach takes longer. It requires more work upfront. Some clients just want to be told what to do.

But prescriptions without diagnosis don’t stick. Opportunities with evidence do.

The goal isn’t to sound smart. It’s to create change that lasts.