Tell Me Something Nobody Knows
A Summer of politics like no other in my birthplace. The post-Brexit progress sensationally provided a new Prime Minister this week.
The day this fell into place, the ever-reliable Eddie Mair interviewing a confidant of the new Leader asked;
tell us something nobody knows about her…
Amid the chuckles, he promised he was not after any “dark secrets”.
This question has form.
It brings groans from popstars when they field it. I’ve heard many, including Coldplay’s Chris Martin, dismiss it as the one that reveals the lack of preparation, interest or ability of the interviewer. Yet amazingly almost every person on the pr trail still tries it.
Even our Eddie seemed to realise this. He quickly moved the chat on to university partying.
There does though remain a definite something in this from a solution selling viewpoint.
Particularly when pitching a new product. A prospect will never ask you this question. But it does strike me as a useful quickfire or round-the-room internal exercise. One that will spread hopefully at least one killer gem to regale all prospects positively with.
What does each team member know about the freshly launched that no-one else knows?
An added idea comes from journalists’ super-keen to uncover how the new PM thinks.
They ask close colleagues for a ‘summary in a sentence’ of what she stands for.
I blog regularly on ways to produce this fundamental yet fraught pitch. From the discipline of using a small set number of words to the focus of identifying the problem resolved to the aim of properly distinguishing yourself, among many options.
If a potential buyer asked you for similar around your new product, what would you say?
If you sense this is not quite the polished response required, now’s your chance to do a touch of – to use the Westminster bubble phrase of the day – finessing.