Emotional Drivers

Here is an interesting post from Ton Dobbe.

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“They wanted to delay go-live until we changed a field from ‘litigations’ to ‘disputes’.”

On the surface? A silly request.

Underneath? A fear of being left alone.

This surfaced in a 2-day pilot workshop I ran this week with one of my clients - designed to turn their software implementation team into impact makers. And this remark cut through the room.

It is easy to think the client is being difficult. But more often than not, this is not resistance. It is panic. A low-stakes demand hiding a high-stakes emotion.

Just think about what happens at go-live:

• The consultant disappears.

• The internal champion becomes accountable.

• Everyone waits for something to go wrong.

So, what do customers do? They find “one more thing” to delay it:

• A field label.

• A training recap.

• A missing link that suddenly matters a lot.

Not because the system is not ready. Because they are not.

We train for technical readiness.

The smart one’s train for emotional readiness.

They ask:

• “What would make you feel confident switching this live?”

• “Who is nervous about taking ownership after this?”

• “Where are we holding their hand too tightly?”

Bottom line:

If your customers are stalling, the blockers might not be in the product.

They might be in the people.

And they do not need more features.

They need to believe they are ready without you.

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A lot of that is true about contract negotiation. We can ask the same question of the other side.

“What would make you feel confident about signing this contract?”

In theory it is a rational process. In practice it is not.

If you can identify the emotional drivers on the other side, you can address them and close the contract that much faster.

3 June 2025