What Don’t You Do?

The “new and improved” Jitterbug cell phone, which is designed to offer senior citizens an easy-to-use phone, boasts in a full-page magazine ad that the phone “doesn’t play music, take pictures, or surf the internet.” I have no idea whether the Jitterbug phone is a good product, but from this ad, I know what it does by virtue of what it doesn’t do.

Potential buyers of professional services also look for what you can and cannot do. Unfortunately, most service sellers emphasize the former and play smoke-and-mirror games with the latter.

We’re taught to emphasize our strengths and sidestep our weaknesses, which makes sense for a debate, a political campaign, or even a job interview. But in a services sale, you can’t sell anything until you establish a level of trust, and that process begins with being forthright about your capabilities.

Of course, it’s not appropriate to air out all of your shortcomings. You can, though, strike a balance between letting clients know what you’re the best at and what it makes sense to let someone else handle.

Whatever you say during sales meetings, most clients will independently verify your claims anyway. Expect a healthy dose of client skepticism if you gloss over your soft spots.

Instead of soft-pedaling your weaknesses, open up and let your clients in. Be forthcoming about your strengths, but also be clear on what you can’t do. It’s to your advantage for clients to learn the truth from you, instead of letting them interpret their own version from another source.

You don’t have to be as explicit as the Jitterbug people, but it is something to think about.