I doubt you’ve ever said that to a client when asked a question within your area of expertise. It would seem a strange thing to say if you are in any way knowledgeable about your subject.
At the weekend, I was lucky enough to watch the recording of the hugely popular Radio 4 show “I’m sorry I haven’t a clue”. It was immense fun with both the audience and the contestants having a ball.
If you’ve never come across this particular show before, it’s a BBC radio comedy panel game. Introduced as “the antidote to panel games”, it consists of two teams of two comedians “given silly things to do” by a chairman. The show launched in April 1972 as a parody of radio and TV panel games, and has been broadcast on Radio 4 ever since.
One of the most famous games, which received a huge cheer from the audience, is ‘Mornington Crescent’. It appears to have absolutely no rules (certainly none that I can discern) and consists of contestants taking it in turns to call out London Tube Station names until one call out ‘Mornington Crescent’ at which point they win. Yes, completely mad but also ridiculous funny!
The producer– Iain Pattinson – has been working on the show for over 20 years, which just goes to show that being silly really pays!
What lies at the heart of the show is making something that is absolutely silly and apparently off the cuff remarks so hilarious, and that is hard, I mean really hard.
These comedians have honed their craft to perfection over many, many years until it appears effortless.
What do you do in your business that comes so easily to you that it may appear to an outsider to be simple but that is really just the result of long hours of practice and study?
Find that and tell people what you do. Make your craft available to others and they’ll willingly pay – just as we did last night.