As a professional, you take great delight in applying your technical ability to help your clients achieve their goals. It’s rewarding and drives you to do it again the next day. It’s just something in your DNA.

That’s why it’s so frustrating when your clients don’t seem to appreciate what you do for them. You can feel taken for granted, minimized and even irrelevant, by the way they respond to you. Not always, but frequently enough that you notice it. What’s the deal?

Being appreciated by your clients doesn’t just happen. It happens because you do one simple thing. You are diligent to align what you provide to the big goals of your client. Pretty simple—just not that easy.

You’ve been led to believe that that if you deliver what clients ask for, on time and on budget, you’ve met your responsibilities and your clients will appreciate what you did. That’s seldom the case because your clients’ goals are bigger and more important than the problem you’re solving. They are bent on achieving a goal; you’re focused on solving a problem.

I remember an entrepreneur telling me that when he started a new business, he was prepared to set it up just like his other businesses. But then his accountant asked him what his endgame was, how he wanted to operate and what flexibility he wanted to have. Those questions and others led the client to reconsider the entity election of his new business and actually settled on a different one. All because a professional saw his role as knowing and meeting the goals of his client, not just executing what the client requested.

This week, stop doing what you’re asked to do and start asking questions about how solving this problem will help your clients achieve their goals. They will value your work and appreciate your contributions. Now you’re living the dream.