Not All Outcome Statements Are Created Equal Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 525

Which of the following statements do you find more powerful and persuasive?

• Linda’s presentation was exciting, entertaining, and memorable vs. Linda’s presentation mobilized the audience to take immediate action and significantly impact others.
• Bob takes the time to truly understand his clients and successfully help them develop their vision and mission statements and their strategy vs. Bob has helped revolutionize his client’s success by expanding their entry into international markets and increasing their annual revenues by 86% and profits by 22%.
• We help implement beautiful web sites vs. we help create tomorrow’s thought leaders by developing and transforming their million-dollar web presence and their global digital empire.

When reviewing my clients’ outcome statements, I often find too many focus on their deliverables, education, experience, and other ambiguous statements rather than the remarkable transformational value their clients achieved with their help that are supported by proven track record of success.

I find that the best time to do this is when your clients thank you for your help and contribution towards the success of their business. It’s a great opportunity then to ask them for their testimonial and have them especially describe the dramatic results they have achieved and how would they quantify it.

I’ve been saying for years that if you boast about your successes, that may come across as being self-absorbed and arrogant. Yet if your clients boast about their successes due to your involvement, that is a fact and the ultimate outcome statement for you to share.