The Power of Specificity
A challenging, psychological hurdle I’ve observed early stage companies and entrepreneurs run into frequently is this idea of avoiding specificity in their speech and vocal mannerisms. It’s easy, natural and instinctive to be vague with investors, especially when your ideas, plans and aspirations are potentially just a check book away. But, specificity establishes stronger credibility and rapport with your audience.
Vagueness is an internal mechanism we use to keep us safe from questions. It allows us to be interpretive, open and corrective. That’s why it’s so much more difficult to be specific than broad. We feel protected.
There are times when it’s wise to be vague. Politicians deliver vague, exciting addresses filled with fancy metaphors and delightful visions to seduce their audience. I can see this being a valuable strategy for the long-term plans of your business, specifically in attracting clients and employees. However, this is absolutely not a short-term investor strategy.
Specificity is a power strategy because it proves that you’ve put in-depth thought into the concept, idea and actionable plans of your business. It helps your credibility because your audience will have a clear understanding of what you are actually launching. And, it allows your audience to provide useful, poignant feedback on what you present. Finally, it forces you to be honest to the people you are speaking to.
A good test of specificity that I’ve practiced is to have a someone explain back to you an idea you just explained to them. You’ll find that the more vague you are, the more difficult it is for the person to explain back to you the same idea the way you meant it to be expressed. This is what you want to avoid. The goal should be to provide your audience the ability to explain and understand your ideas nearly as well as you do.
When it comes down to it, we avoid specificity because we fear being wrong. But, it’s better to be wrong early–as in your early investor pitches–than to be wrong down the road when it hurts financially. And, it’s better to create a discussion, especially if you are wrong about your assumptions, than to avoid one. Just because you’re specific in the near-term doesn’t mean your ideas are locked in. It simply means that you’ve put thought into the tactical vision of your company.
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