“I Don’t Know” – an underrated phrase.

Posted by Tom Blue on December 19, 2008 under Marketing | Be the First to Comment

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine who is a financial advisor… you know, a stockbroker?  He was telling me how his customers have been calling in asking for his 1-3 year outlook.  He is currently responding an honest “I don’t know.”  His thought process (which I believe to be the correct one) is this could be the bottom or we could be in the middle of slide downward so he obviously does not know.  I think most people would say that is absurd.  He is a financial “advisor.”  Isn’t he supposed to give advice?

Well, I guess, but it seems to me the whole world has gotten addicted to unswerving opinions and pseudo-facts regardless if they have any merit.  It’s as if, they would rather be wrong then have any doubt in their minds.  The media just makes it worse. Journalists are so caught up with trying to have a complete story/opinion, they don’t bother to get to the truth. In addition, so called experts that are interviewed on news programs are so happy to get the publicity they are willing to act like an authority even when they probably aren’t.  Don’t believe me, see this.

My thought is, what is wrong with saying “I don’t know.”  It has to be said more often. If my broker said that to me I would appreciate it and would be much more likely to work with him again in the future.  Alternatively, the more opinionated one is and the more he/she is trying to prove, the less aware I feel they are. Their overconfidence backfires.