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The polite barrier to your growth
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Hello Reader, Politeness is a baseline for a good business relationship. There is no disputing that. However, when it comes to gathering the intelligence you need to close new deals or strike a chord in your marketing, that same politeness can actually hold you back. I will tie this back to client testimonials. Your clients like you and they want to be supportive. So, when you ask them questions about your business performance, they focus on positive outcomes because that is what they think a testimonial is (saying nice things). They leave the other things out. The problem is, some of the best insights are not in the 'rah, rah' sound bites. Your clients avoid talking about their initial skepticism, their fears, or the specific reasons they almost did not hire you because that is not your typical testimonial fodder. They do it because they do not want to tell the hero of the story (you) that they ever had doubts. They are protecting the relationship at the expense of your marketing and sales strategy. Here is an example of the type of question that can generate a really impactful soundbite in a testimonial interview: "Looking back to the day before you signed our contract, what was the one thing that almost made you stay with the status quo instead of moving forward with us?" Now, maybe you have a no-nonsense client who will give you the hard truth, but that is not often the case. To get the whole truth, you often have to remove that relational barrier. To reach this level of 'truth', you need a third-party sounding board that allows the client to be completely candid without feeling like they are letting you down or hurting your feelings. When you get out of the way, you move past the nice filler and move on to the real stuff (the strategic intelligence) that is currently missing from your business. If you are ready to get past the politeness and find the full truth that is currently closing your deals, let's talk. You can book a time on my calendar here: https://calendar.app.google/LzvCqGWyxr9Hoh5d6 Stop collecting compliments. Start extracting insights that convert. - Neil |
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