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Be Transparent…You Mean Like…in Fantastic Four?
Instead of trying to cover up the truth or put a happy face on your sad story…let people pull back the curtain and take a long, hard look at you or your company.
Be authentic. People have a lot less to gossip about you, your product, your service or you – if YOU tell people what they might think are your weak points.
You don’t have anything to hide…so don’t act as though you do!
Most people appreciate transparency in others, even if it scares the hell out of being transparent themselves.
Remember when the Pastor of that big church in Colorado preached against homosexuality? It’s a “sin”, he said. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever. Whenever I see a finger point, I always remember that fingers backfire…all the time… I know one thing…
That dude is a hypocrite. Sure to be exposed.
If he would simply say, “I’m gay, I still love my wife, but I’m gay…” Well, dang, that resonates with honesty, integrity and says, “Hey look, this is me…”
But, he didn’t. And then little things get big in the press.
Take the examples that keep happening over and over and over.
You and I aren’t pure white. Neither are our products. We make mistakes. There are imperfections. Even Lexus (and Toyota this week) make mistakes… Recognize, fess up, keep working at serving your client.
Let’s say July is traditionally your worst time to make sales and you’re desperate to increase your business during this period to help your cash flow. Make a special limited time offer.
Don’t be coy. Offer a special discount or a gift and say you’re doing so because it’s your “slow time” and you need to pay your staff anyway.
People then GET IT and THEN they will buy it because it MAKES SENSE.
Today KevinHogan DOT com celebrates it’s 2.5 millionth visitor. That’s pretty cool. I asked everyone what I should do. Maybe a special sale?
I don’t particularly like…”specials,” but I get that we are in a recession so, we’ll have a “special sale,” because it’s what everyone asked for. But talk about special. This is rare. As a rule, I think specials are not great for longer term business, unless there is a REALLY GOOD REASON.
The Order Department Fouled Up – Our customers wanted the X25 Mountain Bike, but Susan in our ordering department ordered the X26 and now we’re over-stocked on X26’s.
THAT is a good reason to have a “special.”
Where There’s Smoke, There’s A Sale – The fire in our warehouse damaged a lot of our merchandise, so we’re selling the good stuff for a lot less. We’d appreciate your help and are happy to give you a great price on moving out stuff we can’t sell at full price or get reimbursed for by insurance.
I know this probably goes against every grain of business sense, but I promise if you give people a good, true AND believable reason why you’re doing what you’re doing, they’ll love you for it. If you open up, they will, too — with open arms…and open wallets.
HOWEVER, all that said, don’t make up weird stuff out of thin air. Just be straight with your customer.
Whenever something is just a little “off,” or something seems too good to be true, all people want to know is…
What if you “sound too good to be true?”:
