Introduce confusion and with it comes turmoil.
Health care debate.
Obama insists he wants to fix a broken system. We hear about 50 million uninsured people. We hear about people losing their insurance when they lose their job. We hear about people who can’t get insurance because of pre-existing conditions. We hear about people being financially ruined from medical bills.
Okay, maybe we do need to fix something.
So why all the tension over trying to fix a broken system? Why are we seeing people screaming at town hall meetings about socialized medicine, gate-keepers and death lists?
Why aren’t we all excited that the broken system is going to be fixed? We could at least be happy that the broken thing is being looked at, right?
Perhaps tinkering with health care is scary to many people. Go back up to the list of things that are wrong, broken. Are those items I list about health care or money?
Obama made a serious marketing error when he said he would fix health care. I like my doctor. I picked him; I trust him. I also keep an eye on him. I double check his recommendations and sometimes decline a proposed treatment. I have no problem with my doctor. I don’t want Obama to fix my relationship with my doctor.
We do need to fix the payment part of of our health care system. Had Obama entered the fray by saying we need to find a way to help people pay medical costs through insurance and direct medical benefits, he would not be facing the irrational tirades he now faces.
There will always be irrational people to deal with. But the irrational have no power as they are small in number. And, the number can be reduced through education.
Take a lesson from this. When making a proposition to a client or prospect, are you clear in exactly what you are proposing? If not, you may spark turmoil.
For example, I ‘preach’ that small improvements aggregate to big results. I often hear from prospects that they do not want to change everything just for the sake of change. ‘Change everything’ is quite a leap from ‘small improvements’ but people often make that jump.
Something to think about.
Chris Reich, Author of TeachU’s Business Talk Blog
Chris@TeachU.com