This business consultant started offending people... and it's paying off.

Our client Annissa recently told me that she had done a presentation for about 50 people.

However afterwards - even though she felt like she’d done a good job - only 5 people stuck around to ask more questions.

A few months later she did this same presentation for a similar size group - but this time after her presentation over half the room was lined up waiting to ask her questions and connect with her business. It even landed her an invitation to speak at USC.

So what made the difference?

Like I said, the core content of the presentation was the exact same.

What happened was she started owning her company’s voice. She stopped trying to appeal to everyone and instead took a stance.

Between these two presentations, we worked together to overhaul the visual look of her slides (which upped how credible and smart the audience perceived her to be)

Here’s just a few before and afters of what that visual change looked like:

But it wasn’t just the visual look of the presentation that changed.

Annissa took the work we had done together creating a clear company message (using a tool called StoryBrand) and changed the words she was using. Just check out the way she changed the words on the front page of her website to explain what she does:

Before, Annissa’s brand was safe, polished, and used fancy business terms.

Which completely makes sense - when you’re trying to land big businesses as your clients, it’s understandable that you would try and dress up and look as corporate as they are. The last thing you want to do is say something that could turn away a customer right…?

Or could offending a potential customer be a good thing? Is there a chance your brand is that bad drink at the bar nobody wants because it’s so watered down?

The reality is that taking a stand as a brand and owning your voice is the way to build raving fans.

Microsoft believes in creating a more productive work world.
Apple believes in creating a more connected relational world.

Coke believes we should all have backyard bbq’s and get along.
Pepsi thinks we should head to the club and party all night long.

Trader Joe’s believes you should have creative ethnic flavors available in a cute home-towny atmosphere.
Costco thinks you should channel your inner forklift and buy in bulk so you can save every nickel.

The brands you admire have taken a stand and owned their voice. And chances are, you already know what you believe in - you’re just afraid of saying it. You’re stuck in business jargon like “we believe in taking a customer-first approach to achieve the highest outcomes for customers through innovation and integrity”.

Sure, your customers think it sounds nice…

But it doesn’t say anything and they’ll go buy from someone else.

They’re looking for someone to say, “This is what we believe, what we offer the world, and here’s how you can get in on it”. Annissa’s taken a stand - and she’s beginning to attract her ideal customer because of it.

Just say it. Stop trying to appeal to everyone and start saying something - because when everyone’s your customer, no one is.

Click here to get inspired and see Annissa’s bold voice on every page of her website.