STOP "Educating" Potential Clients

Over the past 42 years I’ve come to realize the strangest things irritate me. Multiple conversations at the table; someone talking to me from a different room across the house; music I don’t know very well playing while I write (I just changed it btw…). Like I said, they’re weird.

Another thing that’s really fired me up since I heard it many years ago is how you’ve got to “educate” your clients.

Like, how? Educate them like you’re the teacher and they’re the student? 

I don’t know a lot of people who liked school

So why are you creating an environment few potential clients look back on with fond memories? Stop lecturing them. Stop dumping a bunch of information on them. Stop making them feel judged.

Most people don’t like to feel stupid or wrong or poor, and that’s the place many people go when you start “educating” them with things like:

• The décor on your Pinterest board costs double what you’re budgeting.

• It’s so much more complicated than that. Let me tell you about how it works.

• If you want that you’ll have to add [large number] to your budget.

Start helping them instead

Small word change. BIG DIFFERENCE.

This isn’t a matter of poh-tay-toh poh-taw-toh. Sorry. The mindset and approach (and therefore outcome) to “helping” someone instead of “educating” them is so much better.

When you help a couple see something from a new perspective they understand more.

When you help a couple learn all the different moving pieces involved in producing a wedding they value what you do more.

When you help a couple articulate what they love on their Pinterest board into what you offer through your services they connect the dots.

When you help a couple come up with a realistic number for their budget they can make better decisions on all purchases.

How to help instead of educate

Instead of telling people something, ask them a bunch of questions instead. You’ll get a lot further in life if you guide people to discover something on their own rather than listen to all the advice you’re trying to give. 

If you’re really going to change the way someone thinks about what you do, they’ve got to reframe their understanding. They have to rewire the way their brain sees it. And we know that’s best done if they do the work themselves. 

So change the way someone sees something before you offer to educate.

Not sure if it works? It’s what I do for you every Tuesday morning with this newsletter.