The Devil's Advocate

57

Dull is the new sexy

Don’t let the creatives run your sales pitches.

Ask a creative person, and they’ll always want to do something new and creative. It’s what drives them, and what wins awards. Most of the time, that hunger is fantastic. But sometimes it’s the last thing you need.

You need to really understand your customers, and what it is they’re buying from you. Is it glory? Is it getting chatted up at the awards ceremony? Or do they just want to keep paying the mortgage every month?

I’ve listened to countless businesspeople recount how they’ve been asked by prospects for ‘something innovative’. When they offer that, they get rejected because ‘it’s never been done before’. As one businessman eloquently put it to me, ‘If I hear someone ...