Radical Transparency Polished Professional for Gaining Customer Engagement

Radical Transparency Polished Professional for Gaining Customer Engagement

Since the dawn of entrepreneurship, the go-to air of success reads as polished and professional. Growing pains or struggles? By all means keep them to yourself. Your behind-the-scenes business process or pricing structure? No one’s business but the owner’s. The logic behind putting one’s best foot forward is that projecting success imbues potential customers with confidence that indeed, this business knows what it’s doing and does it well.

We’ve reached an enlightened point in the business landscape, however, where different perspectives are accepted as equally valid to that of the perfectly polished professional. Consider, if you will, the growing trend of business owners allowing a peek behind the curtain and showing the "warts and all" version of their business, in which they’re more forthcoming with details and about challenges.

Why this trend toward what is referred to as radical transparency? Entrepreneurs are embracing the practice with the goal of building a deeper level of trust with customers, clients and their audience in general.

Radical transparency in action

What does radical transparency look like? Some examples include:

• A consultant who publishes their pricing openly on their website, rather than requiring a discovery call with a potential client
• A manufacturer who makes their cost breakdown public to show customers exactly what they pay for when they purchase their product
• A service provider who shares their own "cautionary tale" of when a project went sideways and how they learned from the experience to do things differently

Why is radical transparency effective in marketing?

Consumers are weary and skeptical due to relentless, slick marketing in recent years and as a result, companies’ campaigns are swiftly becoming less effective. Transparency cuts through the haze with a refreshing dose of authenticity that connects effectively with potential customers in a number of ways. The practice of displaying vulnerability demonstrates a level of confidence that perfectly polished marketing can’t reach.

There’s a psychological principle at play behind being transparent that causes people to tend to trust the next thing the owner says because it signals credibility. Here’s how the mechanism works:

According to social psychology, people known to be competent who commit a minor blunder are actually trusted and liked more after making said blunder when compared to equally competent people who are never seen to stumble. The blunder humanizes them, making them more relatable. After all, if you have something to hide, you wouldn’t volunteer what makes you look less impressive. If you’re willing to risk your reputation by admitting a weakness, people register your honesty; if you were only interested in hollow self-promotion, you would only share flattering information.

Most polished marketing is automatically discounted by audiences because people know perfectly well that they are being persuaded; they run the information through their internal filter that determines that it serves the entrepreneur’s interest. But transparency breaks that pattern - and in doing so, prompts consumers to more thoughtfully process the information - rather than passively skimming it. It’s that deeper engagement that sticks with them and builds trust. That credibility transfers to their other claims as well.

Another psychological mechanism at work with transparency is that self-disclosure that carries some emotional risk tends to spur reciprocal trust from the other party. An audience that watches an entrepreneur disclose a real struggle feels invited into a more honest, less transactional relationship - and tends to respond with loyalty and openness of their own.

Where and how to exercise radical transparency

It’s important to be strategic about your radical transparency. It should be noted that not every stumble, blunder or vulnerability needs to be divulged - exercise prudence in choosing what you share. Think of them as ’teachable moments’ from your business’s archives - the ways you’re real when other businesses aren’t.

There are several areas where transparency can be particularly beneficial, including:

Pricing - Being upfront about your pricing - and how you arrive at it - can help customers understand exactly what they’re paying for and give them an appreciation for the value of your offerings.

Process - Walking people through your workflow and the way you work through each stage of a project can help them appreciate the scope of the work and have reasonable expectations for time frame and workload.

Challenges and mistakes - Admitting when things aren’t perfect fosters trust by adding a human element, and demonstrates resilience through how you overcame, pivoted or adjusted course.

Important considerations when employing radical transparency

Sharing "private" information also opens the door for criticism, so be prepared for feedback that you don’t get when you only broadcast your victories and highlights. When choosing a radical transparency strategy, remember to ensure it serves your audience - it’s not about naming every weakness. You get to choose what - and how much - to share, based on what’s appropriate for your particular business.

A quick-start guide for radical transparency

If the concept of radical transparency is new to you and you’d like to dip your toe in the water, start small and build up gradually:

• Begin with process transparency rather than financial transparency
• Share a lesson learned from a challenge in a social post or newsletter
• Publish at least your pricing structure or philosophy, even if not your exact prices
• Choose a meaningful metric that you’re willing to share, like a growth percentage or client retention rate

Radical transparency builds relationships

Radical transparency is effective because it treats people like partners, not prospects to be managed with ideal messaging. Businesses that do this well gain credibility and a leg up, because honesty itself becomes what makes them stand out in a marketplace full of polish.

What would you feel comfortable sharing about your business that you’ve kept private until now?