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What to say when every stakeholder insists their piece is important

A longtime reader wrote in with this important question:

“I know my message needs to be simpler. But which parts do I cut when every stakeholder insists their piece is important?”

That’s brutal, isn’t it? Everyone thinks their piece is the one that can’t go.

Here’s how I look at it …

Think of your message as the entrance to a building.
It’s not the whole building. It’s job is to make people want to step inside.

That means you don’t need every single room represented in the entrance hall.

You just need enough to make them curious to step in, to make them feel ‘yes, this building is worth entering.’

But if the entrance is cluttered with everything everyone wants to show, people won’t even come in.

That means no one will ever see your room, no matter how brilliant it is (or how important you think it is).

So the job of the message is simple:
make the entrance so clear, so inviting, that people want to step inside.

Then, once they’re in, you can show them around.
That’s when they will be open to exploring the rest.

But again, first they need to get through the door.

So when every stakeholder insists their piece is important, I tell them: Your piece is important for the building, it just doesn’t have to be the entrance.

When they see that, the fight usually stops.

Because now it’s about creating the clearest, most inviting entrance, not cramming the entire building into a single doorway.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

PS: Question shared with permission in a shortened form. If you have a question you’d like me to address, just hit reply to this mail.

Can you charge 100€ for a pizza?


At first, you think, ‘That’s ridiculous.’
Then ‘hilarious’. But let’s look closer.

Why would the restaurant really do that?

Of course, maybe it’s their way of saying, ‘We don’t really want you to order this.’ A protest against pineapple on pizza.

But maybe it’s simply a marketing move — something so outrageous that people would tell their friends about it.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s actually a psychology test, sponsored by a university. To see how much someone really wants what they want.

Which leads to a second question: why would anyone actually buy one?

Maybe out of curiosity?

Maybe to make a statement: ‘I don’t care what you think, I’ll still have what I like.’ If not: ’Look, I’ve got the money!’

Or maybe it’s even part of their identity to be the kind of person who orders the forbidden pizza.

What I find fascinating is that both sides contribute to the story.

And that’s exactly what happens in communication. It’s never just about what you say. It’s also about what people make of it.

Sometimes they hear a protest.
Sometimes a joke.
Sometimes a challenge.
Sometimes simply a factual statement.

You will never be able to control every interpretation.
But you can shape the context.
And prepare yourself for unexpected interpretations.

So, what do you think? What’s really going on?

And, of course, would you order the Hawaii?

Keep lighting the path!

Love, according to marketing

No-one ever gets tired of hearing “I love you”.
But marketers? They say: “Love me!”

Followed by: “Have you subscribed to my newsletter?”

Hm. What could possibly go wrong?

Love doesn’t work that way.
Neither does marketing.

Keep lighting the path!

Does your message survive the handoff?

Like, when you’re not in the room, how do they speak about it?

That’s what so many leaders get wrong about communication.

It’s not clear when you say it.
It’s clear when they can repeat while you’re not in the room.

Whenever I ignored this, I set up my idea for failure.
Sure, I made it sharp, simple, and unmistakably clear.

But for myself.
Not for them.

And that’s where things went wrong.

Because when someone else had to explain it …
it wasn’t my message anymore.

They got the point slightly wrong.
The nuance was lost.
The energy faded.

By the time it reached the next person, it barely resembled what I had said.

That’s why, to me, clarity is more than logic.
It’s not about making people understand.
Or finding words that make sense

It’s about finding words they’re able to pass on:

  • intact,
  • unchanged,
  • and still compelling.

Startups run into this all the time. The founder has the charisma. But if the team, the customers, or the investors can’t pass it on, the idea fades.

Obsess over the words your team can easily repeat.
Because if you don’t, others will.
And perhaps in ways you won’t like.
The idea morphs – and often fades.

Successful ideas travel.

They move through what I like to call the pass-along phrase.
A line so clear and crisp that people repeat it without thinking.

If your message isn’t designed to spread, it stops with you.

So, what’s the one phrase they’ll carry forward, exactly as you intended?

I’ve made a little cheat sheet to help you get clarity on your pass-along phrase. Download it for free on my resources page.

Keep lighting the path!

Do you have time to figure it out?

Most small businesses don’t lose customers to the competition. They lose them to confusion.

Imagine two restaurants side by side.

One has a sign: “Best Wood-Fired Pizza in Town.”

The other has a long description of their process, ingredients, and philosophy.

Most people will walk past the second one, not because it’s worse, but because they don’t have time to figure it out.

It breaks my heart when people give up because they perceive the market as unfair – rewarding the “natural born salesmen” and neglecting better in favor of what’s louder.

I used to believe that, too, before I flipped my career from Mobile Communications to, well, human communication.

We had the same problem in that industry. It wasn’t the best ideas that won. It was the ideas that people understood and embraced.

People just don’t have time to figure out confusing messages.

The truth is that communication isn’t an afterthought to your offer – it is the offer.

The good news is that’s usually way easier to fix than the product.

Keep lighting the path!

Why customers shop around

The moment your customers feel seen, they stop shopping around.

When you realize this, it’s no wonder that customers keep their eyes open for alternatives.

They don’t feel seen.

Because the business is busy speaking about themselves.
Occupying the spotlight.
Positioning themselves as the hero.
Trying to get attention.

When all the customer needs is to feel seen.

That’s the irony: The best way to get attention is to pay attention.

While focusing on yourself leaves customers feeling ignored.

That’s why the so-called love brands start with listening.

It means they can stop persuading and start resonating.

Instead of churning out yet another ad, why not call one of your customers today and have a raw conversation?

Many of my clients have called that a breakthrough moment. It cuts the countless hours spent in meetings guessing what they would say by knowing what they do say.

Leaders who listen create brands people swear by, not just shop from.

What’s a brand that makes you feel seen? How do they achieve that?

Keep lighting the path!

Turning ambition into progress

A while ago, a friend called me because he was frustrated with his marketing team. “The people on the team are so motivated, but we’re making so little progress,” were his words.

And he was right. The team was highly motivated. But the problem was that they were chasing 100 ideas in a 100 different directions.

Each of them was good, some even amazing. But each of them told a slightly different story.

Rather than one bold promise, they were making 100 little promises.

Which confused customers.

As soon as we understood this, we changed it. Instead of redoing the website or planning the next campaign, we took a step back. We focused.

It wasn’t an easy process. Some of these choices were hard, some perhaps even slightly deliberate.

But by aligning every activity on a common path we managed to turn ambition into progress.

The team was just as motivated as before, if not more. Only this time, everyone was pushing in the same direction.

How about you? Do all of your marketing activities tell a concise story?

We need money. Someone needs to give it to us.

Recently, I’ve been to a lovely film festival that had a problem. Their public funding had been cut significantly and now they are in financial trouble.

Which made them a bit angry. Mostly towards the public bodies.

But they also had a little difficulty keeping their calm towards the crowd.

In their pre-show moderation they insisted that it was our obligation as visitors of the festival to donate to cover the missing funds.

That message didn’t land well.

No-one felt obliged, although everyone seemed to enjoy the festival. The irony is that I’m pretty certain many of them would actually be happy to donate at least a small amount.

But.

People just didn’t feel that the festival was entitled to their money.

Communication-wise I think the problem was that they were speaking entirely from their own perspective: “We need money. Someone needs to give it to us. That someone is you.”

Essentially, they’ve tried to turn their problem into our problem when they should have tried to turn our joy into their solution.

People are happy to pay for joy. Not so much out of a false feeling of guilt.

The organizer’s anger kept them from seeing that there’s almost no limit in getting people’s support when supporting you gets people what they want. The audience wants a lovely film festival. The thing they want least is to be bothered with politics and business models.

What makes your customers happy to pay?

The more conversations you have with your audience and the better you listen during these conversation, the better you understand what makes them feel happy.

Resonate with that!

PS: This afternoon, I’ll host a live conversation with Julian Treasure on “How to listen well”. I would love to meet you there.

No need to persuade

One of the things that I found interesting during our stay at the beach was that nobody is forced to be here.

We don’t need to persuade people to come at the beach. They just choose to. You can make a brilliant business out of just resonating with that choice and making their stay as pleasant as possible.

For example, someone put up a beautiful lounge with some chairs that are free to use and some chill music. Of course, no one needs to be persuaded to use those chairs. People just choose to because it makes them feel good.

They also opened up a bar where you can buy food and drinks. No ads. Nobody needs to be persuaded to go there. When people sit in the lounge, sooner or later they will choose to buy some drinks and food. It just feels good to have a cocktail sitting at the beach looking at the sea, doesn’t it?

Everything about that place was chilling. No pushy ads. No screaming sales strategy. Just resonating with the chill feeling that people naturally have. In fact, everything was designed to amplify that feeling.

I think that’s a profound lesson: What if you chose to persuade less and resonate more?

What if you didn’t try so hard to convince your audience of your take and instead watched closely to understand how your offering amplifies something that they already resonate with?

So … what in your message resonates strongest with your audience? Zero in on that and amplify it as much as possible.

Speak up

I want to live in a world in which those who have an important story to tell find the words that motivate them to speak up with confidence

Words that resonate strongly and inspire action.

Words that are honest and compelling.

Words they truly believe in about the things they deeply care about.

There are more than enough careerists who couldn’t care less about the stories they tell as long as these stories get them the deal, the promotion, the vote, …

They are the ones who have no issue with speaking up, even if they don’t believe in what they say.

We shouldn’t leave the field to them.

I want to live in a world where those who do care for their story, tell their story – and in a way that gives them a chance of being heard.

That’s why I do what I do.

Spread the Word

Picture of Dr. Michael Gerharz

Dr. Michael Gerharz