Understanding Client Pain Points

The Emotional Side of Financial Planning That No One Talks About.. As a financial planner, I help people make sense of their money. I create strategies, find solutions, and help them move forward. But what many don’t see is the emotional weight that comes with it. I’ve sat across from clients who worked tirelessly for decades, only to realize they don’t have enough to retire. I’ve seen people trapped in debt, not because they were careless, but because life threw them one challenge after another …medical bills, family responsibilities, unexpected loss. And then, there are the truly painful moments. The moments where I see how unfair money can be.. A single mother who did everything right but is still struggling to give her children a better future. A responsible saver who lost everything in a bad business deal, while someone else who took reckless risks walked away just fine. A hardworking individual who followed all the “right financial advice,” yet somehow, life still didn’t go their way. These moments stay with me. Sometimes, I sit in my car after a meeting, just… processing. I feel  The frustration.  The helplessness.  The sadness. Because no matter how much I want to change the past for my clients, I can’t. I can’t undo years of struggle,  I can’t rewrite bad financial decisions,  I can’t change how unfair money can sometimes be. And the hardest part? I can’t let my emotions take over. Because money doesn’t care about fairness. But financial planning does. Over the years I learned to focus on what’s ahead, not what’s behind. I can’t erase past mistakes, but I can create a plan that gives my clients hope, stability, and a way forward. I constantly remind myself that my clients don’t need my emotions, they need my clarity. They come to me feeling lost. If I let my emotions cloud my advice, I’m not helping them..I’m just adding to their overwhelm. I have come to accept that I can’t save everyone, but I can help one person at a time. And for that one person, in that one moment, I can make a difference. And that’s enough. Gradually I came to understand that A financial plan isn’t just about numbers. It's about resilience. It’s about taking control, no matter where you’re starting from. And for me? Being a financial planner isn’t just about money. It’s about showing up for people in their hardest moments and helping them find a way forward. Even when it’s hard.  Even when it’s unfair. Because someone has to.

𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, If you're preparing for Data or Product Analyst roles — this is exactly the type of case round you should practice. It’s not about jumping into queries — it’s about structured thinking. 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨: You're a Data Analyst at a food delivery company like Zomato or Swiggy. In the past 15 days, there’s been a 5% drop in active customers. You’re asked: “What could be the reason behind this churn, and how would you investigate it?” 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟏: Clarify the Problem Before solving, ask: Does “churn” mean no orders? Or no activity at all? Is it across all users or specific cohorts (new users, Prime, etc.)? Any specific regions more impacted? These questions help you define the problem — not just guess a solution. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟐: Structure Your Investigation Break down your thinking into: 🔹 Internal Factors (platform-level issues) App crashes, login issues → Check crash logs, screen exits Delivery delays → Compare SLA metrics over time Key restaurant unavailability → Partner downtime, stockouts Reduction in discounts → Drop in coupon usage or redemptions Checkout issues → Cart-to-payment funnel drop-offs 🔹 External Factors (outside control) Weather/strikes/curfews → Regional impact data Seasonality → Historical trends from previous years Competitor activity → Market-level discounts or ad campaigns 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟑: Go Deep on the Root Cause Let’s say the team confirms: “Yes, we reduced discount campaigns.” Now prove it with data: Analyze sessions reaching the “Apply Coupon” page Compare order completion rate before & after discount application Study cart abandonment after coupon screen Look at this metric over last 15 days vs previous months This validates the impact of discounts on churn — using real funnel data. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲? Case rounds like this aren’t about correct answers. They’re about how you think, how you structure messy problems, and how well you connect business context with data. This is the exact type of round I’ve seen in companies like Zomato, Blinkit, Flipkart, Meesho, etc. So if you’re preparing — don’t stop at SQL or dashboards. Practice thinking like a business analyst. If you want more real case problems like this — drop a “Case” in comments. I’ll share a few more from my interview experience.

While no solution/technology is perfect, and there are always some clients that have frustrations, when I see a significant pattern of complaints and issues as an analyst it has to be dealt with. Just like a financial analyst that issues cautions on investments, an industry analyst also must do so. In this context, I get more complaints on ServiceNow for #GRC (what they call #IRM) than any other solution in the market. By a long shot. But they are everywhere I turn in RPFs and engagements.   In these interactions, I have not met one GRC professional outside of IT who loves their organization’s GRC implementation on ServiceNow—they tolerate it or outright loathe it.   Several large enterprises across industries have either abandoned ServiceNow for GRC, initiated RFPs to replace it, or reverted to manual processes while seeking a better alternative. One large organization informed me that they turned off ServiceNow for all GRC functions and went back to manual processes and will be going back to RFP.    The consistent pain points include: Cost & Complexity – What is marketed as "off-the-shelf" requires months of costly configuration to be usable. Licensing costs are difficult to navigate. Performance Issues – Its architecture leads to slow performance and clunky workflows. Difficult Maintenance & Upgrades – Organizations struggle with complex table relationships, making it easy to break functionality. IT-Driven, Not GRC-Driven – Business users in risk, compliance, and audit teams frequently feel sidelined in the decision-making process as IT mandates ServiceNow. Consulting Firms Push It – consulting firms love the massive projects and revenue to implement it.   One large global FinTech (who is still on ServiceNow), told me that: “the current TPRM [third-party risk management] module of ServiceNow is their most immature and least thought-out module of all of ServiceNow.”   Here is some feedback from a retail organization that left ServiceNow last year: “ServiceNow is an ITSM platform that they've tried to adapt for GRC. Way too tedious to work with and maintain, not intuitive at all. Its relational database foundation makes it slow and clunky. And the complex relationships of the gazillion tables makes every new version potentially painful for any custom-developed modules — or even SNow's own GRC modules — because it's pretty easy to break stuff. And SNow's licensing model is byzantine and expensive.”   I caution organizations to carefully evaluate their options before committing to ServiceNow for GRC. If your IT department is pushing it as the only option, take a step back and engage risk, compliance, and audit professionals in the decision-making process. GRC solutions should be business-driven, not IT-imposed. If you're considering an RFP for GRC solutions or have concerns about your current implementation, feel free to reach out. I cover ServiceNow and a broad range of GRC platforms and can provide insights to help navigate the landscape.

✨ 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 Data that feels uncomfortable is often more valuable than data that feels impressive. We were running a deep-dive on service delivery gaps across urban municipalities. Midway through, one stat came up from a local inspection database: 67% of businesses hadn’t renewed their operating licenses for over 18 months. We hesitated. Was the data faulty? Was it outdated? Would including this reflect poorly on the municipal team we were supporting? The instinct was to flag it quietly. Maybe keep it for internal use only. But something about it felt important. So we pushed to validate it. 🟢 Cross-checked it with tax records. 🟢 Ran spot surveys. 🟢 Pulled data from three other regions for comparison. It held up. And once we showed it, it flipped the conversation. Instead of talking about better reporting systems, the client zoomed in on: → Trust gaps between local government and businesses → Complicated renewal processes → A complete lack of reminders or grievance redressal That “inconvenient” number became the anchor insight for a whole new reform plan. Here’s what I took away: 📌 Don’t smooth over a messy data point just because it’s uncomfortable. 📌 Often, that’s the data that unlocks the real problem. 📌 Clients don’t just want the good news, they want the truth, framed responsibly. Research isn’t about making data palatable. It’s about making it usable. 🔁 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝘿𝙖𝙮 3 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨: ✨ 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙚-𝙨𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙮𝙨𝙩. Next up (Day 4): Why research doesn’t always solve problems, sometimes, it just names them. #PublicSectorResearch #DataValidation #ConsultingLife #ClientInsights #ResearchThatMatters #FromResearchToRealLife

Companies pour millions into AI, automation, and cutting-edge tech—expecting a revolution. But then… nothing changes. Productivity stalls. Adoption is slow. Frustration rises. Why? Because technology alone won’t solve your problems. The missing link? People. Their adoption, their engagement, their proficiency. 💡 You can implement the best tech, but if your people don’t understand, trust, or use it, transformation fails. 💡 Digital tools don’t drive change—your culture, leadership, and mindset do. The key to true digital transformation isn’t just upgrading systems; it’s upskilling people, reshaping behaviors, and aligning teams. So before investing in more tech, ask: ✅ Are my leaders driving change or just approving budgets? ✅ Do my people feel empowered or overwhelmed? ✅ Am I solving a business problem or just following a trend? The best transformations are human-led and tech-enabled. What’s your biggest challenge in digital transformation? Let’s discuss⬇️ #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #ChangeManagement #FutureFit #Innovation #Technology #BusinessGrowth

Target a pain point, not a persona. When you're starting a business, forget about ICPs. The best products almost always start by focusing on a niche problem and solving that better than anyone or anything else. Targeting personas puts you in a box. "This is for sales teams of 10+." But what if your perfect customer is a team of 9? Or a solo entrepreneur? Pain points don't care about arbitrary boundaries. They're universal. For example at Gamma, we didn't set out to serve agencies or SaaS teams. We looked for people who hate formatting slides but still value the effectiveness of communicating in PowerPoint. That pain point is way more widespread — but still targeted. By focusing on the problem, not the person, we’ve opened up a world of possibilities. Here's the secret I wish I knew early on as a founder: Start with one corner of the problem. Solve it well, then expand. It's like a puzzle — you don't try to fit all the pieces at once. You start with the edges, then work your way in. Your initial solution might resonate with unexpected audiences. Let it. That's how you discover new opportunities. Don't limit your potential customers, limit the scope of your solution. As you grow, you can tackle more corners of the problem. Your "box" naturally expands — and on your terms. Based on real user needs, not predetermined categories.

It bears repeating: "Lack of" isn't a root cause. During a recent conversation with an executive about a vexing quality problem his operation was experiencing, the "lack of" well-defined, well-documented, and well-managed standard work came up. As did the "lack of" proper training. As we address directly with clients—and in our Mistake Proofing, Problem Solving, and Root Cause Analysis courses, there are typically TWO factors at play with quality problems: contributing factors and direct root causes. For example, let's consider quality problems in four very different types of work: 1) hemolyzed blood draws that require redrawing blood; 2) cracks in manufactured parts that have to be scrapped, 3) wrong reason codes for an outcome, which causes dirty data; 4) missing critical notations on construction blueprints, which create construction defects and increases warranty expenses. In all four cases, quality can most certainly be improved with clearer, documented standards; excellent training; and better work oversight. But true root causes (and there are often multiple root causes for a problem) rear their heads DURING THE WORK ITSELF. 🔸 Hemolyzed blood is often due to shaking the tube of blood too vigorously. 🔸 Cracks can be caused by poor equipment, improper part handling, or improper temperatures. 🔸 Wrong reason codes are often the result of too many codes to choose from, or missing prompts in software to help someone discern between two similar-sounding codes. 🔸 Missing blueprint notations can be caused by distraction, rushing, or incorrect AutoCad settings. To help people conduct more robust root cause analyses that get to the process or work system issue that creates the specific cause and effect, it's helpful to differentiate between contributing factors and true root causes. Oh and while I'm at it . . . fishbone diagrams (aka cause-and-effect and Ishikawa diagrams) are brainstorming tools. While the true root cause(s) may make their way to a fishbone diagram, you have to dig more deeply. Definitive root causes can only be discovered via data, direct observation of the work, equipment and code testing, etc. Brainstorming can be a powerful first step and great way to get a team engaged in problem solving. But it's only the first step. VALIDATION is necessary. So the next time your head (or someone else's) lands on "lack of" root causes, acknowledge them as possible "contributing factors," but dig more deeply for true root causes. Remember: they exist in the work itself. #rootcause #quality #causeandeffect

We've fixed exactly what clients asked for, executed well, delivered clean work, and still, the results felt underwhelming. Not because the client was wrong but because they were just too close to see it. Most clients don't come with a problem. They come with a symptom. "We need more leads." "Our LinkedIn isn't working." "Sales calls aren't converting." But when you're inside the system every day, you diagnose based on pain, not patterns. You assume the last visible failure is the root cause. But the real issue usually sits one or two layers deeper. "We need more leads" is often unclear ICP. "Content isn't converting" is often weak positioning. "Sales isn't closing" is often misaligned expectations set by marketing. So, before touching anything, I ask:  What decisions led you to believe this is the problem?  What changed recently that made this feel urgent? Then I work backwards. If a client says, "We want more inbound leads," I'm not thinking about content calendars. I'm asking: Who exactly are your ideal clients? What would make them hesitate before reaching out? Most of the time, the client realizes it themselves: "Oh... maybe this isn't a leads problem." Because the best work doesn't start with agreement. It starts with asking if we're solving the right problem. PS: Are you fixing what's broken, or just treating what's painful? #StrategicThinking #B2BConsulting #PositioningStrategy #ProblemSolving #BusinessGrowth

🤔 Useful Questions For Stakeholder Interviews. With good questions to ask when interviewing stakeholders — to understand their needs, key goals, gather requirements and keep them on your side ↓ --- 🔶 1. Design For Listening, Not A Conversation One of the most impactful strategies that worked for me over the years is to design the entire conversation around listening to stakeholders, not speaking about them or even with them. And typically it all starts with only one single question: “Please guide me through the product and explain its key features.” There is no small talk, no introductory questions, no dancing around the topic, no deep-dive into my workflow. I merely explain that in the next 45 mins I'm trying to find severe problems that are worth solving, understand the context about these problems and project goals — and ask for a permission to record the screen for studying it later. This opens the conversation immediately — and then I pay attention to features highlighted, features skipped, and ask plenty of follow-up questions to understand the motivations and the goals that a stakeholder has. --- 🔹 2. My Stakeholder Interview Template Dear Ms. Krajewski, As a UX lead on the project, my team and I are currently in the process of discovery. As we start our work, we’d like to better understand your pain points, expectations and success criteria. 1. What’s the purpose of this project for you? [Interest, engagement] 2. Where does this project fit in your daily work? [Their perspective] 3. What’s the most important thing to get right? [Priorities] 4. How would you describe the target audience? [Their view] 5. If you could understand one thing about users, what would it be? 6. What important insights did you learn about users recently? 7. What does success look like for you and your team? [Metrics] 8. What challenges are top priorities for your team? [Pain points] 9. What’s the success criteria for the project? [Ideal outcome] 10. What constraints or frequent issues should we know about? [Risks] 11. What is your ideal level of engagement for the project? [Max] 12. Anything else you think nobody said to me yet? [Hidden troubles] 13. Is there anybody else who you think I should speak to? [Leads] --- ♦️ 3. The Real Insights Aren’t In These Answers I absolutely love Anton Sten's point that the real insights usually won’t live in answers to all these questions. They live in the follow-up questions and answers — and often in a way of how a stakeholder responds, what they leave out, and what they overstate or repeat a number of times. As designers, too often we see our clients and stakeholders as adversaries. Yet we rarely know how our stakeholders work, so we shouldn’t expect them to understand what we need either. The crucial part is to be genuinely curious, positive and engaged to elicit useful insights. “The other person will only stay engaged as long as you do, and they can sense when you check out.” Useful resources ↓

The key to mastering discovery has nothing to do with asking questions. Here's a flip in perspective that recently changed my discovery calls: Before deciding which question to ask...you need to know what you're trying to get your prospect to say in the first place! When you know what you need them to say...it's much easier to reverse-engineer what to ask. Great discovery requires that you understand the relationships between: 1. The most common prospect "types" you'll encounter. 2. The most common problems for each type of prospect.  3. The broader business impact each given problem creates. When you know the flow of how situations --> problems --> impact, you can just authentically ask questions that lead the call in that direction. But if you just ask questions for the sake of asking questions, you come off as canned and don't even guarantee you'll "discover" what you needed to. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲: Define in advance what you need to "discover" for YOUR sale. 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝟭: 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 What information do you need to know about your prospect to determine what problems they are likely to have? --- 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝟮: 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 Based on the "type" of prospect you're meeting with, what problems do they usually have? If you know the top 3 pain points you solve for this type of prospect...just ask if they have any of those 3 problems. --- 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝟯: 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 "Pain points" are usually 4-5 figure problems. You won't sell a 6-figure deal solving a 5 figure problem. Map out in advance why the "pain" you discovered might actually matter to an Exec. Hint: You can usually tie the operational problem to 1 of these things: 1. Help them make $ 2. Help them save $ 3. Mitigate risk --- 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝟰: 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 You probably won't get here on the first call. But if you can eventually get your prospect to articulate how the Exec problem impacts the entire business, you have a much stronger business case. Look for things like: 1. A C-Level Metric 2. A Board-Level Priority  3. Existential Business Risk ____ TL;DR Knowing where you need to take the call is FAR more important than knowing the "perfect" discovery questions to ask. Liking this concept and want help building out your discovery plan? You may enjoy the new 30 Minutes to President's Club discovery course where we teach you step-by-step how to build this for whatever YOU sell.