Google Docs, despite running my entire business through it and with plans to use it in my business more, is the bane of my existence for several reasons.
It’s the only “software” I need to serve my clients, myself, and my business.
But it doesn’t understand grammar, it’s set out to make me look like like English ain’t my first language with its incessant requests for me to change “copy” into “copies” or to add an “a” before copy, the recent “Document tabs” feature they added (which I still haven’t found a way to turn off) makes me seethe every time I glance over to the left side of the screen, and then there’s the fact that half the time you misspell a word (even by one letter, e.g. lettr), Google Docs doesn’t know what word you were trying to spell. How Google Docs’s spellcheck is so stupid compared to Google search’s spell check is something future generations will ponder for ions.
And there are, of course, several other beefs I have with Google Docs. But we have a love-hate relationship.
Anyway, yesterday as I was writing copy the way I do on any given day, Google Docs decided to fritz out with a bunch of incorrect grammatical suggestions. This has been an ongoing annoyance for your humble daily narrator here, and so I decided to “stick it to the man!”
Instead of simply ignoring the incorrect grammatical suggestions, I clicked the feedback button and clicked the “Suggestion is wrong” option.
Then I whipped out my phone and sent a Snapchat to some of my friends to prove how much I hate Google Docs.
One friend replied to said Snapchat and said, “why don’t you use Zoho?”
My response?
Uhhhh, I need a document software not a mf CRM.
He didn’t take the hint.
He responded with, “what about one drive? It can save everything and you can organize it however you want.”
Ah, like the Google Drive my Google Docs account is hooked up with?
Now, I don’t mean to sound mean to my friend. But I wasn’t looking for a replacement, just voicing my frustration.
Which brings me to the point:
There’s one way to make sure your advice falls on deaf ears:
Providing it unsolicited.
This is even more true in the world of business and sales than it is with Snapchat and Google Docs. But the point remains: Unsolicited advice never gets acted on.
In fact, providing unsolicited advice—no matter how good your intentions are, like they were for my buddy who just wanted me to find a better software—is a way to act smarter than you are. But unsolicited advice is anti-persuasion in practice.
More:
This also extends to the “drop value bombs” crowd circle-jerking each other to Gary Vee. What a business owner thinks his audience values, and what his audience actually values, are often two different things. That’s why value bomb email marketing is the unsolicited advice of email marketing strategies.
You think you’re so high and mighty and noble by not asking for a sale (which, unless you’re a scam artist, is doing a disservice to your audience) when in reality, you’re brimming with low self-esteem and a bank account heading red. And making your audience flee to your competitors (whether you’re aware of it or not).
Much better to actually persuade and sell them than provide unsolicited advice that’s more about you than it is about them.
Classic mistake.
And while I still love my friend, I hope he gets the hint next time.
And if you’re ever in a position to offer unsolicited advice?
Just don’t do it, cully.
Need help turning your email list of leads into a legion of loyal and repeat customers?
Hit reply, and let’s chat.
John
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