February 11, 2021

Who Gives a Hoot About You?

It’s embarrassing really, isn’t it?
When you look back.

When you look back at yourself.
And the way you used to think…speak…dress… behave (well, not much chance of that).

I’m not even talking about our teenage years.
(That confusing emotional pandemonium when we were obsessed with ourselves.
When we discovered that we had hair, or a couple of muscles.)

I’m talking about just a few months – even weeks – ago.
When we tried our very best to impress the world with our “new cashflow thang”.

Or when we launched this astonishing way of promoting ourselves and our business.
”Jus’ look at me new website, won’t you!”

Or our new style of Financial Plans, structured in a way which was bound to knock their socks off.

“And what about our new Client Portal then?
I mean. Can you believe the sophistication we’re bringing to you?”

Then somewhere, in that disturbing moment between sleep and waking…
we get this uncomfortable feeling in the murmuring pit of our consciousness.
Or is that our stomach?

A murmuring which tells us precisely what we don’t want to hear.
And it’s this.

They don’t give a hoot!
Really. They don’t!

As one client reminded me when I started to wax lyrical about my business’s new mission (and I paraphrase a little here)…

”David, what I want is for you to help me break free and spend more time with my family!
I want you to help me create happier clients!
I want to be free to be myself, not to have to act to please people!
I want to feel that what I do matters to people! Really matters!

Your new ideas are amazing.
Really they are.

But am I bothered?
Not really.”

Well, that told me!
Especially annoying, since he’s right.

We leap on our charger on a Monday morning.
Careering into action with our Service Proposition Wotsit.
Offering rocket-science solutions to life’s probably-secondary problems.

And wondering why the firm down the road (virtually speaking)…
Is paid four times as much per client for (what looks like) the same service (or worse).

It’s so frustrating!

Meanwhile…
If we’d just learn to ask a different set of questions…
We might make this terrifyingly glorious discovery:

Somewhere inside there – inside that wonderful person…
Is the ‘Hoot’ you’ll never discover with your normal ‘professional’ advice-language.
Like your ‘Fact Find’ conversation. (Zzzzzz).

Change that familiar, mechanical language.
Reveal that Hoot.
And there’s no language to describe the relationship-magic you’ll unleash.
For them.
For you.