I’ve had only a handful of jobs in my life. I was a lifeguard in college and got fired for starting a small revolution about hair length and its impact on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I was crushed in the revolution even though I was right. Long hair does not negatively impact mouth to mouth resuscitation. They just wanted us to wear short hair.
So I became a drill press operator for a lot less money and far less visibility. We pay a price to lead a failed revolution. Otherwise I’ve been in marketing all my life at a radio station, ad agency, and now with Synergy Leadership Group.
One thing you need to get comfortable with in marketing is that people will want to change your ideas. They want to mess with your stuff! The person or company paying you for your advice often wants to change something in the copy or design of your work. We are all students of marketing, and so we have all developed strong opinions and want to share them.
There is even a guy who makes a six-figure salary teaching marketing people like me how to sell our creative in a way that will make people less likely to change it. He has raised the process to a fine art form. Full disclosure here; I have hired the guy on multiple occasions.
But it’s not only creative people that have to live with someone wanting to change our dreams and ideas. Our significant others, friends and co-workers often want us to change some annoying habit we have.
I’m currently working with a group of leaders that have laid out a master plan for a brilliant and exciting initiative, and they are in the early stages of selling it to selected targets and guess what? Some of their potential clients want to mess with their stuff too.
These leaders spent years researching their brilliant new innovative idea. They hired experts to do studies. They meticulously patterned their thinking after other successful programs and met face to face with their leaders to learn more.
They have done everything right. And now others want to mess with their stuff. And it is relatively new to them.
Here is a subject I have prepared for most of my life. First, you need to listen intently to what is being suggested, because those making the suggested changes are not potted plants and, more importantly, they may be right! They may even have a better idea and you don’t want to miss a new insight or breakthrough idea.
I love it when people improve my creative and I am the first one to give thanks for the suggested improvement. But I too am not a potted plant and have reasons for using the words or visuals I choose to use and I will be the first one to step forward and tell you why I used the word. So be prepared to engage in a healthy discussion with me. The debate I had about hair length and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation demonstrated to me that I can debate sometimes with less fervor.
And here is how you could handle the conversation when people want to change your stuff. I present my creative work and might hear, “Nice work Ralph, but I noticed you used a blue shirt in the ad rather than a red shirt. I like red shirts.”
I secretly cringe when someone says “I like.” Because it is not about what they like, it is about what the target audience likes. But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume what they really meant to say was “I like red shirts because the target customer buys more when they see red.”
I start by thanking them for their suggestion because it can be difficult to step up and suggest changes in someone’s work. Then I step back and carefully study the ad we are discussing with great interest, and say, “We can make that change. We could show a red shirt in the ad rather than a blue shirt. It would work.”
I have now demonstrated that I am a good listener and I have validated the other person’s opinion, which is important. And it is way smarter than making faces and looking disgusted by the mere thought of someone wanting to change your stuff.
I then add, “Let me tell you why we pictured a blue shirt in the ad.” And then I present strong reasons, preferably linked to the target customer’s preferences for blue, as to why we selected blue. Most often they reply, “Oh, I didn’t know that. By all means let’s use blue.”
Most often it works. The key is that you did the research and you have strong reasons for why you chose the actions, words or visuals that you did. If there are better reasons to make the shirt red then make the change. But if you were dead on with your original blue shirt research, keep making your case. Just don’t loose your lifeguard job over it.
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