No matter what field you’re in, you will be faced with a “test” or “new way to do things” that has a potential to cause channel damage, or financial, technical, or emotional harm to the company. In almost all situations the end goal is to be beneficial for the company and not result in something negative. That’s where you come in.
If you’re a consultant remember that your job is to advise and execute plans, you don’t own the company. When in-house, it is your job on the line, but it is also not your company or decision, guide the idea as best you can and prepare for the worst.
Preparing for the worst is for consultants and in-house employees. It doesn’t mean resign or look to replace the account, it means spend time helping execute while creating recovery strategies just in case the worst happens. In many situations it won’t, but if it does, you’ll be prepared and likely have a stronger voice at the table for next time.
The one thing we never do anymore unless severe damage is guaranteed is to use analogies. When you stick to facts and skip the fluff, you’re taken more seriously. People have asked how we handle this on projects, so here’s four ways we respond depending on the client or situation. These are the actual formats we use with the situations below them.
Agree and Share Paths With Less Risk While Keeping the Test Progressing
When things will likely delay success or cause minimal damage, we say:
Yes, we can do this and there are a few potential outcomes.
- X will likely gain as expected, and we may see a decrease in Y over the next ABC as a result.
- When we reach X step, double checking Y may help to reduce the chance of 1, 2, or 3 from happening which protects ABC.
- If we can tier the test with 1, 2, and 3 at separate intervals, we will have data before risking the ABC leading us to potentially better results.
This is the option I use in most situations. It is non-confrontational, provides ways to mitigate risk, and helps to show we can try new things while reducing potential losses. One thing executives and leadership hates is not being open to new ideas. Don’t be that person!
Although being cautious is important, if you only say no, they stop inviting you to have a seat at the table. Pick your battles wisely and choose when things are actually bad for the company and not just for your channel or contract.
TL:DR and Explanations
When there is a lot to say, don’t say it without an executive summary. The C suite, and even Director level employees do not care. They want results and ideas implemented. Your day to day matters to you, and to an extent your manager. This is when I use this format.
TL:DR:
To mitigate potential risks we have two options:
- Less risk: By doing A and B during the process we reduce the chances of ABC loss upon completion over X time frame.
- High risk: If implementing without the above our potential loss is Y. This can be recovered over X time frame with A, B, and C investments.
Complete Information:
Less risk – With the first option above we mitigate our chances of losses by setting up controls that signal a potential loss of X and Y. By changing course, even if we continue the test, we reduce the risk of a loss of 123 keeping us ahead by ABC in a worst case scenario.
Another outlier could be A or B which may happen around 123 time frame or as a result of X. If this happens we will be down Y, which may only be recovered if we invest 123, but it can be recovered.
If at stage 1 or 2 we notice ABC, this could result in damage that isn’t able to be undone, so if we have someone lookout for this, we can temporarily stop the test, find what is happening, and then either start or try something different so we can work to achieve the same goal.
High risk – If we implement as is, we risk a loss of A or B, have a high chance of the result causing X or Y, if either happen. The cost to fix this is 123 and will take up to X or Y months. This is due to the ABC being controlled by third parties that 1 and 2 every XYZ months and algorithms needs ABC time to update.
The process to recover includes:
- X investment to do A
- Y to happen roughly 1 or 2 at B time
- If X and Y go as planned, we need to watch for 123 signals as this is a sign we’re rebounding.
- If these do not happen then we go back to step 1 and modify the X and Y to try and get ABC result.
- When we see these happening, the lift tends to grow at an 1:2 rate with a potential to scale at XY.
- If we do A we can likely speed up the recovery at a cost of XYZ.
- By doing B as we see XY happening, we know it is working and just need to wait it out as speeding it up could result in 123.
The benefit to this format is you can have a peace of mind that you’ve shared how to recover if something bad happens and that you have solutions. In addition, nobody can say you didn’t warn them and share ways to prevent the worst from happening. It is on them to track and proceed knowing the risks.
But be careful. This format can be a turn off to others, especially the ones who put their names on the strategy being foolproof or good. You may also come across as a know-it-all and the person that cries wolf. This has backfired on me before, so use it with caution.
Offer a List of Potential Negatives and Ask for Time to Plan
We all have irrational fears and lot of us overthink. Don’t let a fear of the unknown make you think something is bad.
Two weeks ago I saw a client’s site was no longer rendering content into the page source code, but the content does show up in the response. It was still being indexed, internal links were still being crawled, etc… For me it went back to a low priority issue once I settled down, but at first it was high priority.
Many clients and executives will respect when you admit you do not have an answer immediately, but will find one. The added benefit is when you do give a confident answer, they know you mean it and have that knowledge or experience. Here’s how I format these responses when a test is concerning, but I don’t have the facts to back it up.
The test is interesting and I have a few concerns:
- Concern A – keep this to 10 words or less.
- Concern B – keep this to 10 words or less.
- Concern C – keep this to 10 words or less.
Do we have a timeline for when we expect to launch so I can research if the concerns are valid and find solutions so we can be ready to mitigate anything that poses a risk?
One of the nice things about this strategy is you show that you are open to new ideas and you genuinely care. It allows for the people leading the project to share feedback and maybe they can address the concern with facts and save you time. If this happens, you may make a new ally to bounce ideas off of as you’re both building a bridge to work together and communicate.
Give Alternatives that Reach the Same Result
For those “been there, done that” situations where it always ends bad, and there are better ways to do it I use a proactive response. It may go something like.
Love this idea! I’ve done a similar thing with A and B, and in these cases the result ended up not as expected due to X or Y. We discovered a few other ways that meets the needs of this project and resulted in the same or a similar outcome.
Here are similar options if we are open to adjusting:
- Option 1 – No more than 3 short sentences.
- Option 2 – No more than 3 short sentences.
- Option 3 – No more than 3 short sentences.
Based on past experiences option 1 may result in A, option 2 in B, and option 3 in C if all goes smooth. If one or more of these sounds good I can expand and have a plan ready by XY date. Excited to test this.
If you’re a client reading this post, you’ve likely gotten one of the four emails above. It does not mean we were doing something bad. I use these same templates to share good results, ideas that I genuinely love, etc… They are formats that work to get messages across in an efficient way so everyone has what they need and we can make informed decisions as a team.
If you’re reading this post, I hope this helps you with your situation, and if it does, give a share on social media. It’s a great way to say you enjoyed the post. Thank you for reading.
