It’s funny, the basic consulting training most firms give talks a lot about “resistance to change” and focuses on the psychological issues why clients often take this “irrational” perspective.

It’s only after a few years of practice that you learn that, more often than not, resistance to change is caused by one of two factors:

1) As you point out: you’re not explaining yourself well – you haven’t built a compelling case, or

2) They might actually be right and you might actually be wrong. Surprisingly enough, their decades of experience in their business might not just have led to entrenched opinions – it might have led to deeper insights which you ought to listen to.

Ian