ICYMI: Frictionless #13: Ask questions that drive greater CLARITY (and business success)

STARTING LINE

My friend Jim Carrington had a mantra at MBNA America: Try a lot of things and keep what works.

Chris Brogan recently suggested how I could improve this newsletter (besides making it shorter): "Curate something VERY cohesive" rather than just compiling disparate stories under a general "questions" theme. So I'm testing a tweak to the format to focus each issue on one benefit of asking more questions. We'll start with CLARITY.

Justin Welsh, who has built a successful business advising internet solopreneurs, says his goal is to "help 1M people escape the rat race, build thriving one-person businesses, and enjoy freedom-filled lives." This goal isn't a Justin outcome; it's a "customer" outcome. He suggests answering three questions to give you the clarity that will help you set goals:

Who do you want to help?
What do you want to help them do?
Why do you want to help them do that?

But here's a fourth question you can ask. Who CAN'T benefit from my services? Be transparent. Communicate your answer across different platforms (website, LinkedIn profile, or other platforms). Put it in a video or in your sales pitch. Being clear will focus your sales conversations on people who will be great customers.

I'm sure you know people who have been laid off in 2023 or have been affected yourselves. Big banks have collectively laid off more than 20,000 people, and the list of 2023 tech layoffs gets longer by the week. I help people with their LinkedIn profiles and resumes, and I'm focusing on older workers who get no responses to their applications and recent graduates competing for entry-level jobs against people who've been let go with 3-5 years of experience. What I say: Clearly and concisely communicate your differentiated value.

Jay Acunzo wrote last week about the "content hamster wheel" and three reasons others ignore your ideas. Jay believes what we say often doesn't make the uniqueness of our ideas clear because what (and how) we say sounds eerily similar to everyone else in our space.

Clarity can mean different things. I hope this issue offers you some clarity on questions that will deliver it to you. Please hit Reply and let me know what you think of the new approach.

GREAT ADVICE

"I love wordplay. I live for clever. But don't sacrifice clarity—especially in big, at-a-glance places: Titles. Navigation bars. Calls to action. Landing pages. Ditch the abstract and artful in the places where you need to convey a quick hit of information."

-- Ann Handley

HOW TO GET STARTED

“You can’t do everything, but you can do one thing, and then another and another. In terms of energy, it’s better to make a wrong choice than none at all. You might begin by listing your priorities—for the day, for the week, for the month, for a lifetime. Start modestly. List everything you want to do today or tomorrow. Set priorities by dividing the items into A, B, and C categories. At the least, accomplish the A items. Try the same thing with long-term goals. Priorities do shift, and you can change them at any time, but simply getting them down in black and white adds clarity to your life, and clarity creates energy.”

-– Writer and Aikido teacher George Leonard (Source: Mastery and James Clear)

THE BENEFITS OF CLARITY

“The more you niche down, the more you “become known for a niche you own.” Once you gain clarity on your niche, you have the opportunity to dominate it. You can launch a newsletter. You can create digital products. You can write book after book after book (if you want to), reinforcing your Category King position of this niche. (Why does Ryan Holiday write so many books on Stoicism? Because he dominates that niche.)”

-- Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole, Premium Ghostwriting Academy

STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

1. BBC journalist Ros Atkins talked to McKinsey about his new book, The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence. I found this particularly interesting: "When I feel myself not communicating as clearly as I would like to, not using precise language, with a single person, a group of people, or an audience on TV, generally, it means that I haven’t understood two things completely: “What specifically am I trying to communicate?” and “Have I properly understood the details of that subject and how I’m going to express myself on them?”

2. Can I See Fresh Questions? Tom O'Leary ponders this question in a recent post, observing that looking for new questions can be about delving deeper, looking at the familiar from a different perspective. Familiar questions have their place and can offer comfort and clarity in certain situations. And yet, he adds, "they can also lure us into a sense of complacency, where we stop challenging ourselves and cease to grow."

3. Strategy From the Group Up. Kyle Morck says too many people think strategy is "a 100+ page slide deck of big ideas packed with tons of completely unapproachable research." His three questions for developing greater clarity and a more strategic mindset: What problem are you solving? Who is the intended audience? What do you want them to do or feel?

4. The Secret to Getting Clarity (podcast). Jay Papasan, co-author of The One Thing, talks to Mo Bunnell about a range of topics, including the power of consistently writing to your email list and getting clarity on what you need to be doing to achieve your goals.

5. Four Questions When Seeking Clarity. Dan Rockwell says, "What should I do?" is the wrong first question because there are a million things you could do. He says the first question to clarity is about identity, not options.

A BIT OFF TOPIC BUT...

–Luke Russert, in Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself, about his legendary father (and huge Buffalo Bills fan) Tim

"I walk in circles inside the church till the priests begin the process of closing for the night. I light a votive offering to the Virgin Mary as I leave and pray for clarity. It’s dark now in the narrow streets of Old Jerusalem. I know the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall; the holiest site in Judaism is open 24 hours. I decide to walk there. On the way, I see a Buffalo Bills yarmulke for sale from a street vendor still working. The Bills? Here? That’s Dad!

"Dad bottled up any self-doubt in his diligence, preparation, and focus...You can have what Dad never did: a sense of comfort within uncertainty.”

HOW CAN I HELP?

I help clients identify the questions that will deliver clarity to their customers and differentiate them from competitors. Just hit Reply and tell me how I can help. Here are two ideas:

Purchase Josh Spector's The Niche Definer for $50 (affiliate link). It's a simple system to clarify who you want to serve and how you want to serve them.
Download one of my free resources that can help you win the RFP, build stronger customer relationships, write an effective content brief, write an effective case study, or do a post-mortem on a communications project. And if you don't have time to do those things, I can help.

I welcome your comments or topics for future issues. If you found this on LinkedIn or had it forwarded to you, you can subscribe by clicking the button below.

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Peter Osborne