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The Battle of the Bland
2020-01-28 • 2 minute read

I asked a substantial professional advisor in California with 21 years of experience how his clients described him.

“Man I hate that question,” he said.

“You’ve only had 21 years to answer it, so I can see how I caught you off guard,” I said.

“I know what you’re saying. Are you asking me for my elevator speech or pitch book or my mission statement?”

“Stop right there,” I said. “Look, everything you say and everything you communicate to a client is either a ‘me-too’ or a ‘so-what’.”

A ‘me-too’ speaks directly to a client and amplifies how you are described, which attracts that person and engages them. In their inside voice they say to themselves “I want that.” Or, it’s a so-what. A so-what they dismiss. It’s the same as everybody else. It’s just noise. You sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher.

I want you to think about this. It’s not a mission statement. It’s not a pitch book. That’s what salespeople use. Consultants use a value proposition, a verbal extension of their branding strategy that’s integrated and converged.

After my rant, the advisor told me, “I’m a professional advisor and I help people reach their financial goals.”

I said that is completely accurate, but you just described about 10,000 professional advisors.

You can’t bore someone into buying something. It sounds like everybody else, and it’s too easy to dismiss. Plus, what does it even mean? It’s abstract, without specifics people can grasp.

What does it mean when you say “I help people?” You need to think about that answer as it applies to you and your business.

Continued Success!

Contributed by Duncan MacPherson

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