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What Is A 'Damaging Admission'?

A Damaging Admission is an acknowledgment of the potential risks or drawbacks an offer may have.

Making a Damaging Admission can actually increase your prospects' Trust in your offering, because it shows integrity.

Be upfront regarding your drawbacks and Trade-offs. They know you're not perfect, so don't pretend to be.

Josh Kaufman Explains 'Damaging Admissions'

When Kelsey and I moved from New York City to the mountains of northern Colorado, our new landlords, Ben & Betty, made sure to notify us of two important facts about our new home:

1. Rock slides were a very real possibility.
2. Black bears and mountain lions roamed nearby.

These facts didn't prevent us from leasing the apartment, but we were glad to know them in advance, and it increased our estimation of their integrity. We weighed the risks, increased our renter's insurance, purchased a can of Counter-Assault bear pepper spray, and signed the lease.

Counterintuitively, making a Damaging Admission like this to your prospects can actually increase their trust in your ability to deliver what you promise.

Since Kelsey and I didn't own a car when we lived in Manhattan, we had to purchase one when we moved to Colorado. We found a car we were interested in purchasing on eBay Motors, but it was uncomfortable to make such a big purchase without actually seeing the vehicle.

To help alleviate our concerns, the dealership that listed the car, Masters Auto Collection in Denver, went out of their way to photograph every detail-including a small chip in the paint on the left side, which wasn't a big deal. Because they were willing to include even the small flaws in their description before we purchased, we felt more confident that they had thoroughly described the vehicle. We purchased it, and everything was exactly as described.

Without making a Damaging Admission, Masters Auto Collection wouldn't have made the sale.

Your prospects know you're not perfect, so don't pretend to be. People actually get suspicious when something appears to be "too good to be true." If an offer appears abnormally good, your prospects will start asking themselves, "what's the catch?"

Instead of making them wonder, tell them yourself. By being up-front with your prospects regarding drawbacks and Tradeoffs, you'll enhance your trustworthiness and close more sales.

Questions About 'Damaging Admissions'

• Who is your offer not for?
• What are the drawbacks or tradeoffs?
• Would a damaging admission increase the trust your customers have in you?

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"We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones."

François de La Rochefoucauld, seventeenth-century French courtier and aphorist

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https://personalmba.com/damaging-admission/

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