See the value
My singing teacher (Candice) - yes, I sing (another story) - was clearly upset this week.
She had been approached by a talented teen desperate for singing lessons. But the girl’s father had called to say he couldn’t see the value in singing lessons so she would not be attending.
My blood boiled for both of them. Candice and the teen.
The dad was viewing singing lessons in a purely one-dimensional way.
Does anyone buy any service like that any more?
When my daughter started singing lessons with Candice she was about 6. And the absolute last thing on my mind when I eventually said yes to her doing it, was that she would learn to sing.
Bonkers right?
Bear with…
My daughter (Millie) had been nagging for singing lessons for ages, but what swung it for me was realising what else she would get out of it. (And I wasn’t afraid to set her straight on how hard it would be to become the next Birdy!)
Yes, she’d learn a new skill. But she’d get so much more from Candice during the process. Having access to this fabulous performance and singing coach, she’d discover what it meant to commit to a task, to practise, to project her voice, look up, smile, overcome nerves and gather up the confidence to get up in front of others and do something scary. (And she still loves performing now at 21, often found singing at Oxford open mic nights.)
It takes guts. And life is full of scary things that demand guts!
I spent years in ad agencies, presenting creative concepts to clients, explaining strategies, presenting marketing proposals, performing on the spot. I once found myself humming the Mission Impossible theme to a marketing team in the IBM South Bank canteen to demonstrate a creative mail pack. (Thanks Dave W!)
But I was sent on presentation skills courses which helped.
It'’s a life-long skill to get up and face an audience. To deliver a speech, teach a class, share views, defend a point, debate. It takes confidence and practise. Learning how to take a breath, keep the fear in check and deliver.
So when a father asks where’s the value? It put me in mind of my own job.
As a copywriter, you might think all my clients get is a bunch of words organised differently.
Well, yes you do. But you also get a whole lot more.
You get value.
A good friend, ex-work colleague and ex-client sat me down recently and said “you really shouldn’t call yourself a copywriter, you do so much more. Your commercial & marketing experience means you ask awkward questions, you give 360 perspective, you strategise, you see the point really quickly and you reframe it, and that’s before you’ve picked up a pen.”
The moral of the story.
Whatever service you’re about to buy, push harder to uncover the real value.
Not just the face value, but the long-term, deep in the woods, lasting long after you’ve gone value.
It might turn out to be the bit you really, really need.
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