Don’t Take Business Advice From ‘Nice’ People
By Rock Paper Simple // June 22, 2013
Why Nice People Will Sabotage You
The following article on Inc. actually has alot of truth in it and all business owners and entrepreneurs should think about what Kevin has to say here.
He points out that when it comes down to the numbers, it is going to hurt you more in the long run if people are not brutally honest about your business, your ideas, your services or if they even want to buy from you.
We all tend to want to just tell the person “good job, keep up the good work”, but what if that’s not the case? Do we tell them? Do we stay silent? Or can we actually, professionally, tell them the harsh truth?
I have to say… I’m not silent in this regard when I am sitting with a client in consultation for website or internet marketing. If their current website doesn’t cut it, I tell them. I tell them professionally and “nicely”, but I am honest. And then I tell them why. “The website you currently have just doesn’t cut it. It looks like it was designed in the 90’s, it has no call to actions, no lead capture and this Flash banner will not display on i-devices.” and many times they will even hear me say, “I would suggest you remove your website and have no website presence at all if you are not going to upgrade this website. You are hurting your brand and your business with this website.”
when it comes down to the numbers, it is going to hurt you more in the long run if people are not brutally honest
I don’t always get a good response… and sometimes I never hear from the client again. But most times I get a thank you and we start working on how to create a real web solution for them that communicates trust and relevance to the user; a website that has easy to identify call to actions, a conversion plan and of course works on all i-devices.
While I do believe there is a “nice” way to deliver constructive criticism, I do believe it has to be given in no uncertain terms. Just yesterday I took a member of a leads group aside and “nicely” pointed out to him that his business card, while professional, lacked any kind of defining information as to what he actually did.
I pointed out that he had his own name, his business name, his title, phone number, email, and website… but no where did it actually say what he did. He thanked me and assured me he would rectify that with his next batch of cards. I was nice about it… but I was honest about it. His business card wasn’t working.
Go ahead and read the following Article from Inc and tell me which you are. Brutally honest or “nice”?
Article Snippet From Inc
I’ll admit it. I’m not a particularly nice person. In fact some consider me brutal with my honesty. (Some just call me a New Yorker.) Either way they’re right. I don’t coddle. I don’t insult, but I call it like I see it and often I offend. I don’t do it to be mean. I do it out of integrity. I believe (often foolishly) that when people engage me in conversation that they are truly interested in my opinions and experiences. So I share, willingly.
The alternative to us truth-sayers is people with discretion. They grew up under the rule: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say it at all.” They either lie and say something “supportive” when you bring them your hideous, doomed-to-fail idea, or worse they exhibit what I call Quiet-Politeness and simply say nothing. Most likely they’re not vested enough in your success to engage in conflict with you over your passion.
These nice people are not doing you any favors. In fact they are sabotaging you in three ways…
Read the rest of the article on Inc.
Written by Joshua Adams at Rock Paper Simple
Joshua lives and breathes web development and internet marketing and is passionate about not only providing quality service, but also educating fellow business owners about internet marketing and web presence.
