Shallow clients want services. Deep clients want transformation.

You’re attracting the wrong clients because you’re offering the wrong thing.

Not wrong in quality. Wrong in category.

You offer services. Deep clients don’t want services. They can get services anywhere—from hundreds of practitioners who do what you do, from AI that executes faster and cheaper, from junior people they could hire internally.

Deep clients want transformation. The ability to see their situation differently. A lens they can’t access themselves.

But you can’t tell the difference from initial requests. They use the same words. “We need a new website.” “We need help with strategy.” “We need better systems.”

Same surface language. Completely different underneath.

Because you respond with services—your process, your timeline, your deliverables—deep clients can’t tell you’re different. They keep looking. You keep attracting shallow.

Everything About You Says “I Execute Tasks”

Your portfolio shows what you built. Websites. Legal briefs. Training programs. Software features.

Your conversations explain your process. How you work. Your timeline. What’s included.

Your proposals list deliverables. Phases and milestones and outputs.

Shallow clients see exactly what they want. Someone who’ll execute their predetermined solution. Deep clients see a vendor. Like everyone else.

Deep recognizes deep. If you want clients who value strategic thinking, you must demonstrate strategic thinking. If you want partnerships that compound, you must show you build partnerships, not deliver projects.

You can’t attract what you haven’t become.

You Don’t Find Deep Clients. You Create Them.

Here’s what most practitioners miss: deep clients don’t exist before you meet them.

They come asking the same surface questions as shallow clients. “Can you build our website?” “Can you help with strategy?” “Can you improve our systems?”

The difference isn’t in what they ask. It’s in what they’re ready to receive.

Your job isn’t to screen for deep clients. It’s to transform shallow requests into deep understanding.

When someone asks for a website, they’re giving you an opening. Not to agree and quote the project. To show them what they’re actually missing.

A law firm asking for better intake systems needs to hear: you’re competing on the wrong dimension entirely.

An educator asking for new content needs to hear: half your students can’t receive transformation, no matter how good the content.

A SaaS founder asking for more features needs to hear: your positioning attracts the wrong buyers.

This is where you create a deep client.

When you express your point of view—when you show them what they can’t see—they either recognize it or reject it.

Recognition looks like: “Oh, that’s exactly what I’ve been sensing.” They lean in. Ask questions. Want to understand your perspective.

Rejection looks like: “No, we just need the website.” They resist. Want the task, not the thinking.

The ones who recognize become deep clients. The ones who reject stay shallow.

But neither existed before that moment. You created the distinction by expressing what you see.

This is Peter Drucker’s principle: the purpose of business is not finding customers but creating customers.

Tesla didn’t find people who wanted electric cars. Most people didn’t. They created customers by showing a different future—where your car choice impacts the planet’s future. That resonated with people who wanted environmental impact, not just transportation. They transformed how customers see their role, not just their vehicle.

reMarkable did the same with tablets. They didn’t compete with iPad on features. Their point of view—digital tools should eliminate distraction, not create it—transformed how customers see technology itself. From endless apps to focused thinking instruments. They created deep customers who value that specific transformation.

You create deep clients by driving them toward a future they didn’t know they wanted. A future more valuable than their current obvious path. More meaningful than what they expected.

When you show them that future through your point of view, they can’t settle for the surface solution anymore.

That recognition is early-stage transformation. You’ve already helped them see differently. They’ve already experienced what working with you will be like—seeing what they couldn’t see alone.

Once they’ve seen it, they can’t unsee it. And they want you to help them go further. That’s when selling becomes easy.

Because you’re not selling services anymore. You’re selling the next phase of transformation they’ve already begun experiencing.

This is why shallow practitioners stay stuck. They never express their point of view. They agree with the diagnosis. Quote the project. Execute the brief.

They never create the opening where transformation could begin. So everyone stays shallow.

Meaningful Point of View Is What Creates Value

Point of view isn’t just opinion. It’s not “I think branding matters” or “strategy is important.”

A meaningful point of view comes from seeing what others can’t see. From standing outside their perspective with a different lens.

A study abroad consultancy founder approached me about a website. She mentioned she had a freelancer who could do it for a fraction of my standard rate.

I could have competed on price. Explained why I’m worth more. Listed my credentials.

Instead, I told her what I saw: “You don’t need a website. You need strategy.”

She was competing with dozens of consultancies using identical messaging. Even with a beautiful website—whether from me or the freelancer—she’d still be invisible.

I worked in Vietnam. When I wanted to come to Canada, I researched study abroad consultancy services extensively. I understood that industry deeply. I knew there’s a segment of students and parents actually want: not immigration processing, but sustainable career guidance.

She’d experienced it for years—parents staying in touch long after programs, asking about careers. She thought everyone did this.

I showed her: she wasn’t competing with other consultancies. She just lacked her own direction that made her pulled into the competitive herd.

That point of view transformed the conversation. She stopped thinking about website price. Started thinking about positioning value.

She recognized it instantly. Leaned in. Asked questions.

That was her becoming a deep client. Not because I had better services. Because I had a meaningful point of view she couldn’t access herself.

The strategy we developed, the website we eventually built—those became expressions of that point of view. They worked because they came from transformed seeing, not just better execution.

Six months later: she operates completely differently. Sees her position clearly. Filters for students who want her approach. Creates deep clients herself now.

Came back for content strategy. More projects. I’m not “the website person.” I’m her thinking partner.

Once they see differently, they can never go back. The lens changed permanently.

You can check out the full project here

Compare this to how Patagonia operates. They don’t just sell outdoor gear. Their point of view—”buy less, buy quality, repair don’t replace”—transforms how customers see consumption itself. It’s counterintuitive to typical retail. But it creates deep customers who return for decades.

Meaningful point of view creates three things shallow practitioners can’t access:

Premium pricing. They’re not paying for your time or tasks. They’re paying for the lens that shows them a more valuable future. The consultancy founder stopped comparing website prices. Started investing in positioning transformation.

No competition. No one else has your specific perspective. Your lived experience plus your expertise creates a unique lens. I’m the only one who combined Vietnamese student experience with marketing strategy for her market.

Ongoing relationships. Once they see through your lens, they need you for the next thing. And the next. She came back for content strategy. Then campaigns. Not because I do websites. Because I see what she can’t see.

Without it, you’re just another service provider competing on price and process.

With it, you create deep clients who value your thinking, pay premium prices, and come back for more.

Yep. Deep Clients Are Strategically Lonely

They’ve been running their business from one angle for years. Same perspective. Same lens.

They fear what they’re not seeing. Blind spots costing them. Opportunities missed.

You can’t read the label from inside the bottle.

AI can execute tasks. Faster. Cheaper.

What deep clients need from humans is someone who sees what they can’t see.

Shallow practitioners only execute predetermined solutions. AI does that better.

Deep practitioners do what AI can’t: stand outside someone’s perspective and show them what’s invisible from inside.

It needs empathy. And only humans can own it.

This is your value. Not your deliverables. Your lens.

Your Choice. Your Future.

Right now, you’re responding to surface requests with services. Everyone who approaches you stays shallow.

Start developing and expressing your point of view. Show them what they’re missing. Create the opening where transformation begins.

Some will reject it. They’ll compare you to the cheaper freelancer. They’ll want the task, not the thinking. Let them go. They want execution, not transformation.

That’s okayyy.

Some will recognize it. Stop thinking about price. Start thinking about value. That’s your deep client being created.

This is how you build a practice around transformation instead of services.

Deep clients don’t find you. You create them by demonstrating you see what they can’t.

That’s what they pay premium for. That’s what creates ongoing relationships. That’s what gets referred.

Not services.

Transformation.

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