Think with the eyes and ears of your customer

Dear reader,

In my first semester at university, one sentence shaped my entire career...

“You have to think with the eyes and ears of your customer.”

At the time, I didn’t fully grasp it.

After more than two decades in corporate leadership — 20 of those years abroad — and after building my own ventures, first as a solopreneur and later as the founder of Brandt & Partners and co-founder of Caerus Academy, I can say this with complete conviction:

That single sentence has guided every major professional decision I’ve made.

This principle separates busy consultants from profitable ones.

What I Observed Recently

In the last few days, I met several new consultants — all less than a year in business.

All were proud of their new and broad portfolios.

Strategy. Transformation. Leadership. Operations. Market expansion.

Impressive capabilities.

But when I asked:

• How many paid mandates so far?
• Is your pipeline predictable and scalable?
• Is one project smoothly followed by the next?
• Is profitability where you expected it to be?

The answers became longer — and less clear.

I perceived what this means for each of them.

High effort.
Low predictability.
A sense of growing frustration.

The Core Mistake

Most consultants present what they can do. The same I perceived talking to these consultants the last few days. Then I asked them to imagine this.

Clients think about what hurts them.
Then they look for the expert solving their pain, not for a generalist.

Just reflect about when you do have a problem with your teeth.
You do not handle this with a General practitioner.

What I mean is simply this...

If your positioning doesn’t clearly address a specific pain, you create noise — not demand.

My four step process

It sometimes feels like criticism, when I ask to reconsider the approach so far. It isn’t.

What I understand as my calling is overcoming challenges faster and easier than I or others had to experience before. Therefore, I just suggest benefiting from the experiences and success stories of others. 

So this is what I suggested these gentlemen to do:

1️⃣ Define the one key problem you solve.

Not five. One.

2️⃣ Define your ideal client precisely.

Industry. Size. Decision-maker. Situation. Accessability.

3️⃣ Think with the eyes and ears of your customer.

What keeps them awake? What language do they use? What KPIs matter?

4️⃣ Commit to focus.

You cannot serve everyone. You cannot offer everything.

Focus creates momentum, speed and results.
The consultants who specialize earlier build predictable pipelines faster.
The ones who stay broad stay busy — but inconsistent.

If you are 0–2 years into your journey, ask yourself:

Can I describe in one sentence the problem I solve?

If not, you don’t need more activity.
You need sharper positioning.

If you want to work on this foundation systematically: https://caerus.academy/expertshift/

Because expertise alone is not enough.
It must be seen — through the eyes and ears of your customer.

Talk to you next week,
Dieter Brandt