You’re avoiding something. I can see it in your eyes, the way you sink into yourself for a second after you tell me how great your product is. There’s something you’re not telling me. Something important. And you’re scared to death that I’m going to find out what it is.

There. Now it’s out in the open.

You and I both know that at some point I’m going to find out what you’re trying to hide. Maybe it’s the fact that one of your competitors does what you do better. Maybe it’s that your product doesn’t do everything you say it can do, or not as well as you say it can do it. Whatever it is, at some point I’ll figure it out, won’t I?

Here’s the problem. If I figure it out before you tell me, I’m going to get upset. I’ll be disappointed. I’ll feel let down. Here I’ve gone and spent good money on your product, only to find out it’s just not all you cracked it up to be. I thought we had something, I’ll think. You let me down.

So if you and I both know that what you’re saying isn’t exactly the whole truth, then why are you still going on like this? You know it’s only going to make me upset in the long run.

Here’s what you can do to make it up to me. I want you to go to your blog right now and I want you to write a post about all the things you’re not telling me. I want you to tell me why your product might fail to meet my expectations — expectations which, by the way, you set for me.

I want you to tell me which of your competitors does what you do better. I want you to tell me what your product can’t do. If you want to, you can tell me that your company is working really hard to make your products better. You can even tell me that in the grand scheme of things, these things aren’t really major bugs.

But whatever you do, tell me the truth. Because I’m going to find out anyway.

Photo credit: Compound Eye