The tough question most can't answer

👉 tough but important

There’s a question I ask myself every now and then that I find is really helpful for my business.

Though I don’t always have a great answer for it.

The question is simple but vital. I’ll explain why in a second.

But first, here’s the question:

What is the unique combination of ideas that forms the core of what you advise clients?

I’m sure there’s a better way of phrasing it than that, but since I haven’t been able to think of one, let’s go with that wording.

What does it mean?

Whenever you work with clients, there’s always a set of ideas or principles or beliefs behind it.

For example, my work on email is based on ideas like:

• Email is the most powerful marketing tool for building relationships at scale.

• Everyone can succeed with email - you don’t have to be a great writer.

• The most effective style of email - for most people - is simple tips illustrated with a personal story (or occasionally, a fun left-field reference).

• It’s much easier to come up with ideas for emails using prompts (like “think of an example from your first job where…”) - and those ideas are usually more creative and interesting than ones you come up with from scratch.

• The most valuable commodity is attention. The best emails grab attention, maintain it so the whole email is read, and deliver value so the next email gets read too.

• A great basic structure for an email is Hook - Transition - Content - Call to Action. Out of these, the Hook is the part most people either miss out or don’t do well - but it’s usually the most important because it’s what determines whether people read your whole email.

etc. etc.

Not every email you write has to illustrate or be based on one of your core ideas. But at the end of the day, it’s belief in those ideas (and the belief that they’ll lead to the results they’re looking for) that has a huge impact on whether clients want to work with you.

I think we all get that intuitively. The best clients buy-in to the way we do things.

And yet very few of us have reviewed or even written down our own core ideas. I didn’t start doing it until I saw a list a few years ago that someone else had done for their business.

And that may be OK when it comes to doing our work. Our core ideas are probably baked into the way we do things.

But when it comes to marketing like emails, it’s vital we’re clear on what our best and most core ideas are. Otherwise we just end up sending random tips.

Useful. But anyone can email random tips.

And those random tips don’t do a lot to convince potential clients you’re the one to work with.

They may not articulate it. They may not even be consciously aware of it. But they need to feel you “get it”. That you know what you’re doing and could adapt and adjust because you know how things work.

That you’re more than just a hack with a list of tips.

“What is the unique combination of ideas that forms the core of what you advise clients?” is a tough question.

But it’s one that’s well worth asking yourself.

- Ian