A common business problem is “the slowness in which people act.”  This is a situational problem but there are a number of common issues that affect customers, clients and partners that you are doing business with.

Important need.  In a buyer-seller relationship or service recipient-provider relationship, eagerness on the part of the buyer or service-recipient is based on need.  The greater the need, the more eager they are.  It’s the difference between a headache and the need for general well-being.   If what you are presenting is a pain-killer it will carry a sense of urgency for someone with a headache.  Buying vitamins just does not have the same sense of urgency – although it is a very good business.

It’s all about the gap.  The wider and more distinctive the gap, the faster people will act.  The gap is the chasm between their current state and the desired state (which you can fulfill).  You can assist clients in recognizing the gap and you can assist them in widening it.

Recognizing and widening the gap normally comes from the client internalizing payback or consequences or a combination of both.  Payback is obviously the big win, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but clients may perceive that it also comes with some penalties.  Consequences are the cost of not taking action but human nature often thinks “that won’t happen to me.”

Payback and consequences can be both tangible and intangible.   Tangible elements are concrete, measurable and mostly irrefutable.  Intangibles can be vague and subtle but are often carry a very powerful emotional response, even in the business world.  In either case it is all how they, your clients or customers, perceive it.