So what?

"No need to be nice. I need this to be critical, honest and useful. Any feedback you give me will help make it stronger, or steer me in a better direction."

I’d been working on a new service offer. I needed to get it out of my head and test it with some people whose opinion I trust. This is what I prefaced it with.

They were generous and honest with their feedback, and two words stood out:

“So what?”

What I had described made sense. They understood it, but they couldn’t see themselves in it. 

What they really needed to hear was ‘What’s in it for me?’ How will it make me work smarter, move faster, waste less, decide better?

It was good feedback. 

I’d spent too much time describing the framework, process, and approach. It sounded smart and thorough. But on reflection it was more about reassuring myself I can deliver, rather than focussing on what the service delivers.

‘So what’ is a good reminder that people don’t buy what we do, or how we do it, or even why we do it. 

They buy the change it creates for them.