Is Your Fear of Pushing Boundaries Stagnating Your Growth?

Dan Waldschmidt doesn’t have any problem admitting that he’s cut from a different business cloth. In fact, the successful entrepreneur and business strategist, who started his first company when he was 12-years-old, sees his somewhat rebellious style as his biggest value proposition.

That style boils down to this: Waldschmidt believes that business as usual is a recipe for stagnancy and mediocrity, and companies that play it safe have very little chance of driving significant growth.

He prefers a much more aggressive, honest approach that he believes gets to the core of what really makes businesses successful. He calls that strategy “having edgy conversations,” which requires one part memorable behavior, one part credibility, a lot of value, and the discipline to measure what does — and doesn’t — work in both the short and long term.

“There are conversations between companies and their customers happening all the time, and if those businesses aren’t aware of what type of conversation is happening, they can’t do anything to change them,” says Waldschmidt, whose blog Edgy Conversations was named one of the top seven sales blogs by The Wall Street Journal. “I think there’s a recipe to sparking truly meaningful conversations and that’s where being ‘edgy’ comes in.”

“Edgy” also happens to be an acronym. Waldschmidt says for businesses to push the boundaries of their potential, they need to possess four key qualities:

1. Extreme behavior: Waldschmidt defines extreme behavior as taking something different and multiplying it by insanity. In other words, taking risks that might make you feel uncomfortable, but might also put your business in a position to get noticed and build customer loyalty.
2. Disciplined activity: You can’t say or do something once (or a few times, for that matter) and expect it to make an impact. Once you commit to something you believe in, you have to stick with it long enough for it to actually work.
3. Giving mindset: Conversations with customers and prospects aren’t about you. To be truly meaningful (and edgy), conversations and business relationships need to provide more value to the customer than they were expecting.
4. Yuman strategy: Yes, that’s a “Y.” Hey, it makes the acronym work. This component requires businesses to truly understand what makes their customers tick. Can you identify the pain or fear that is driving them to do what they do?

Now, Waldschmidt admits that he didn’t invent those qualities. In fact, at their core, they make up the basic elements of business that drive success. The hard part, however, is actually doing the things that make them happen.

“There are two types of companies: those that want to change or create change, and those that are happy with the status quo,” Waldschmidt says. “For the ones in the latter group, the number one thing that holds them back is fear of perception. They’re frozen by it. They feel like they have to live up to a certain set of ideals or do the things that all of their peers are doing.”

Which is why startup and growth-stage companies might be best positioned to adhere to Waldschmidt’s “edgy conversations” philosophy. Those types of businesses, after all, are often more willing than larger corporations to push perceived boundaries, especially if doing so can help them carve their place in a crowded market.

So, what questions should you ask to gauge the type of conversations you’re actually having with customers? Waldschmidt suggests starting with these four:

• What is my industry afraid to talk about that needs to be addressed?
• Is my messaging consistent and am I disciplined enough to deliver it regularly?
• Am I giving my customers more value than they pay for and engaging them in a way that creates an emotional connection with my product or service?
• What is my customer’s biggest pain point and what am I doing to solve it?

Ultimately, the problem a lot of early stage companies run into is time, Waldschmidt says. And that’s especially true once those companies accept outside investment. Everyone wants to see a return on their investment, yet very few investors are patient enough to allow seemingly radical initiatives build steam and gain traction.

That’s why Waldschmidt says the secret to success isn’t to chase after the trend du jour. Instead, it’s to identify the things that really matter to your customers and consistently execute activities that speak to them — particularly extreme ones that are more likely to quickly start a conversation and keep customers engaged. Now, that doesn’t mean you need to be controversial for the sake of controversy.

“It’s extreme in context,” Waldschmidt explains. “You have to do all four things I talked about above to create consistency and uniqueness. That doesn’t mean being controversial. It means doing extreme, but relevant, things consistently that quell your customers’ biggest fear.”

To read more about Waldschmidt’s approach and background, visit his website. In the coming months, he’ll be adding an analysis tool that will help businesses gauge where they fall on his “Edgy Conversations” spectrum.