You’re in the middle of the busy season of opportunity, concentrating on getting your work done and out to your clients. You’re learning so much about them—information to share, questions to ask and insights to discuss. You know your clients would appreciate and value those conversations, but with so much to do, getting around to having them isn’t likely to happen.

This is unfortunate because it only reinforces your clients’ perspective that most of what you do is produce compliance widgets; that you’re some sort of assembly line doing the same thing day in and day out.

Or are you?

While in your mind you may not be assembling widgets, you may be producing a customized form of widget. You use unique client data and insert it in standardized forms in order to satisfy a requirement. Stated that way, it sounds like you’re producing widgets, customized as they are.

It’s more than that.

But what if those documents were the beginning of the engagement rather than the end? What if you used them to set up the next conversation with your clients about your observations and insights? What if they elicited further conversations with them where you could discuss their goals and aspirations?

Once you enter the domain of conversation, you create value for them that no robot, technology or other AI could offer—exactly where you want to be. This advisory role is too important to overlook. Your clients get valuable insight, your firm retains a valued client and you enjoy challenging and rewarding work.

Now, here’s what is likely to happen. You’re going to read this common-sense article. And you’re going to basically agree with this common-sense article. Then you’re going to go back to your common practice of just getting things out and not even think about the next conversation. Hmm.