IDEAS / POST
Stop Trying to Impress Them. Start Meeting Them Where They Are.
I’m working with a charity right now. Good, smart people doing important work. But their pitch, like virtually every charity pitch, focused on the steps they took to help people in despair.
Pure methodology. Here’s what we do, here’s how we help.
The disconnect: donors are overwhelmingly businesspeople. They feel comfortable with business issues. Psychologically, they resonate with business terms.
Can you see the gap?
When I talked to actual donors, what emerged was their need for concepts like accountability and effectiveness. They wanted to feel confident that this charity operated with the same principles they valued.
Once we understood that, everything changed. Now their positioning is: “We prevent crises before they become crises.”
Same mission. Same people getting help. But now we’re speaking to the psychology that actually drives donor decisions: strategic thinking, prevention over reaction, accountability for results.
The Consultant Trapped in Methodology-Speak
A few days ago, I listened to a business consultant describe her work. When asked what made her different, she defaulted to methodology: frameworks, processes, multi-step approaches. All perfectly logical, well-developed stuff that made her sound exactly like her competition.
Here’s the psychology she wasn’t describing: “Because of my deep experience, I’ve developed an intuitive sense for the hidden drivers of behavior. The drivers that can make, or break a business”
That’s her real superpower. But methodology felt safer to talk about.
Ironically, her psychological observation skills are razor-sharp when it comes to her clients. She told me about one client, a professional services firm, where the partners couldn’t agree on anything. They were unable to leap forward because of a psychological disconnect.
The lead partner told her he’d ‘tried everything’ to get past the impasse. Despite that, my colleague found a way. Her breakthrough wasn’t devising a step by step methodology out of the mess. It was psychology: understanding that smart people don’t resist good ideas because the ideas are irrational (they normally aren’t). They resist change because they’re terrified of losing what made them successful in the first place.
This is the sort of superpower that sets her apart from so many others in her field. But when she described her work? She reverted to pure methodology.
What Organizations Describe vs What Customers Buy
This is the pattern I see constantly:
- Organizations describe: Features, benefits, methodology, process, results
- Customers buy: Peace of mind, status, control, hope, identity
The charity described methodology: “We help families in crisis through systematic intervention.”
The donors bought psychology: “These people think strategically instead of just reacting to problems.”
The consultant described methodology: “We provide proven frameworks for organizational transformation.”
Her clients bought psychology: “She understands why we’re stuck when everyone else just gives us a deck of slides and an invoice.”
Same pattern, every time. Methodology is table stakes. Psychology is a winning hand.
Why Smart People Default to Methodology
Methodology feels safe.
If someone challenges your methodology, you can point to case studies, frameworks, proven processes. It’s solid ground.
Psychology feels… squishier.
But here’s the thing: methodology is what you do. Psychology is why it matters.
Deep down, the charity’s donors aren’t moved by systematic intervention processes. They care about investing in strategic, aligned, competent leadership.
The consultant’s clients don’t seek her out for scintillating transformation frameworks. They care about finally working with someone who understands why they’re stuck.
The Methodology Trap
Most organizations describe methodology because that’s what everyone else in their space describes.
Meanwhile, their customers are making decisions based on completely different criteria:
- Do I trust these people?
- Do they understand my situation?
- Will this make me feel better about my problem?
- Do they get what’s really going on here?
What Psychology-First Positioning Looks Like
Here’s what changes when you describe psychology instead of methodology:
- Instead of: “We provide systematic intervention services”
- Try: “We prevent crises before they become crises”
- Instead of: “I help companies optimize their operational efficiency”
- Try: “I help founders who lie awake at 3 AM wondering if they’re the reason their company isn’t growing”
- Instead of: “We provide strategic planning and implementation services”
- Try: “We help leadership teams who are tired of having the same argument in every meeting”
The methodology doesn’t disappear. It’s still there, backing up the psychology.
But now you’re leading with what actually motivates decision-making.
The Question That Changes Everything
Want to stop describing methodology and start describing psychology?
Ask this: “When my best clients recommend me to others, what problem do they say I solve?”
Not the methodology problem. The psychology problem.
My charity client’s donors like their “systematic intervention methodology.” But they love the fact that “these people actually think strategically about solving problems.”
The consultant’s clients like her “strategic planning methodology.” They love her because “she understood why we were stuck when everyone else just told us to work harder.”
Stop Describing What You Do. Start Describing Why It Matters
If you’re running an organization and sounding exactly like everyone else in your space, you’re probably describing methodology.
Stop.
Start describing psychology.
The next time you explain what you do, listen to yourself. Are you describing your process or their feelings? Your framework or their fears? Your methodology or their psychology?
Because I guarantee your best clients aren’t buying your methodology.
They’re buying relief from whatever keeps them up at night.
Pure psychology.