You might be thinking, is this a joke? Did a 5-year-old hijack this post and drop some schoolish (This is an actual word! Who knew?) toilet humour into the mix?
Before you squiggle your brow into a disapproving Nike tick, hear me out.
If you want your business to grow, you’ll want a rock solid relationship with your customers. You know, the folk that keep your broke ass off the streets.
The more you know about your clients — and they about you — the better the relationship will be. Like any relationship worth investing in, you need to be willing to drop the perfectly put-together public persona and reveal the full spectrum of who you are. The highs, the lows, the wirey grey hair that protrudes from your chin (OK, maybe not that. No one wants to see that).
In other words, you have to be willing to pee with the door open.
Unless you’re a Stepford Housewife, everyone knows that peeing with the door open is the hallmark of trust and transparency in a relationship.
Your connection with your customers can be like this too.
If the ‘professional’ in you is still not convinced, check out these brands who had the Don Cojones to flaunt their flaws.
- Denver bar
Like this dive bar that turned a negative review into a staff t-shirt…which unwittingly turned into a money-maker, with more than 450 T-shirts sold.
2. Copywriter confessions
Or what about this writer, who, instead of waxing lyrical about the grammatically correct use of dashes, revealed this howler:
Sure, this humorous approach might not work for your brand, but admitting when you don’t have your shit together, don’t have the answers you think your clients expect you to know, or that it was you (heathen) that left the toilet seat up, is what makes you human and relatable.
In fact, according to brand strategist, Matt Davies, “F*cking up in front of people and owning it isn’t unprofessional. It’s generous.”
It’s how you build trust.
And trust is how you build a brand. As a founder, your brand is a reflection of everything that’s unique and personal to you and your company. This gives you a level 10 advantage over bigger, more established brands.
It means you can embrace your humanness to build genuine connections with your ideal clients. You don’t have to have an offer that’s bigger or better. You just have to be RELATABLE. And communicate in a way that says, “I see you. I get you. I am you. Heck, I even blame the dogue for letting one rip at the dinner table.”
Oh pleeeeaase, like you’ve never!
So, the next time you feel less than. Or that you don’t have it together. Or you’ve made what you think is a brand-cancelling boo-boo, give the finger to the woke folk and own who you are — warts and all.
This is how you build lasting relationships. Your humanness is your unfair advantage. So, go ahead and pee with the door open. Just don’t forget to replace the damn loo roll.
Have you ever put yourself out there and owned the not-so-great bits? How did it work out for you?
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