Say What you Need to Say....Market to the Problem

I had my second coaching call this morning with Annetta Wilson. She is pretty good at what she does. I enjoyed our time on the phone. She asked me about the challenges that Bravo is up against right now and as we made our way through them I took fast and furious notes.

It is simply amazing how Annetta can talk about what Bravo does in a way that I simply cannot. I don't have to wonder why. I know why. She is not married to Bravo. She can look at what we do from a distance and provide me with insight into the services Bravo provides in a way that I struggle with. One of the big take aways from our conversation this morning was so simple and elegant and yet profound for me:

"Market to the Problem"

This concept is something that we actually teach in our public speaking workshops. Identify someone's problem and make it go away. Talk to them about SPECIFIC things you can do for them and tell a story about someone who had the same problem and how you solved it. Bravo's problem is we get academic in a hurry and it is something that we must resist at every turn. If someone has a headache they want some Advil. They don't want (or need or have the time for) a long drawn out discussion about why they have a headache. First solve the problem. Then you can talk about why they keep getting the same headache over and over and over again.

The "headaches" we solve? Terrible Presentations, Terrible Slides, Terrible Presenters, Terrible Managers, Terrible Leaders, etc. (And terrible can take many forms--terrible can be inexperience, lack of knowledge, fear, lack of vision, lack of goals, and so on and so forth)

And all these terrible things lose time, money, clients for the business.

So this week Bravo will focus here and beyond on saying what we need to say by marketing to the solution. Thank you Annetta!