When jargon and platitudes dominate the conversation, pull out the big guns to find the real story. And turn "It all comes down to service" into a message that will make money for your company.
Call them Company X:
Me: "Let's talk more about what differentiates you in the marketplace...there are certain things you do for customers that no other company does. Let's unpack some of the details..."
Client: "Well, it all just comes down to service."
Me: "Can you help me define what you mean by the notion that you provide good service?"
Client: "Well, just making sure things get done right the first time, you know?"
Me: 'Ok...well...let's begin with identifying which things need to get done..."
Client: "Well, checking to make sure the all the steps are taken care of in the customer process."
Me: "ok...well, great, how about we take stab at unpacking this...What steps create a customer process?"
Client: "oh, well, it's different for every customer, so it's hard for me to say exactly."
Me: ...long pause...
Me again: (pullin' out the stops) So have you ever bent over backwards for a customer of yours SO INTENSELY, you became envious of how successful you made your customer?
Have you ever MADE ONE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS SUPER RICH? AS A RESULT OF YOUR GOOD SERVICE? AND THEN FELT ENVIOUS ABOUT THEIR SUCCESS?
Customer: ...long pause...eyes look up to ceiling...eyes fall back down to the desk...eyes meet my gaze...hard squint... "YES."
Me: "What did you do for them?"
Cutomer: "Hell yes...yes...yes...we've made three customers into millionaires. They started out in their garages and have multi-million dollar businesses now...and EVERY SINGLE BIT OF ADVICE AND STRATEGY AND INSIGHT WE GAVE THEM -- OPENED THE DOOR FOR OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM!....And I'll tell you exactly where we started and what we did for them every step of the way...first, FIRST, we gave them all of our secrets about distribution..."
•••
Well, the details flowed. I won't bore you with Company X's intricacies. But it's proof that writing good messaging sometimes will require unleashing the emotional power crouched behind the veil of business formality.
And yeah, if good messaging is often created from what sounds like the last 30 seconds of a heated discussion, that's probably true.
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