How To Doctor The Spin Doctors
Topspin Spin Spin Doctor Answering Questions Tough Questions media training
Jerry Weissman
Spin versus Topspin
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Forbes
“Put a spin on it!” is the hue and cry of public relations consultants, corporate communications counselors, and media advisors when they help businesses with their outbound messaging, and especially when they help those clients respond to bad news. Synonymous, but less frequently used terms for “spin” are “reframe,” “pivot,” “tie-back, or “bridge”—all of them tactics intended to make a quick departure from a challenging issue and a prompt arrival at one’s own message.

All well and good. Everyone has the right to state their own case and an equal right to avoid self-incrimination. There are laws to protect those rights. But there is another unwritten law in business (nonexistent in politics): to deal with issues directly and to answer questions with equal directness. Failure to do either is to risk being found derelict of duty and therefore not to be trusted.

There are a few certain circumstances where you can reasonably decline to answer a question about: competitive information, confidential matters, or issues under litigation, but for all others, you must tell your audience—a potential investor, customer, or partner—what they want to know. In contractual terms, quid pro quo, or measure for measure. Only when you have fulfilled that obligation can you move on to your message.

At Suasive we call that movement Topspin. The term, taken from tennis, describes the action of hitting a ball so as to create forward motion, forcing it to bounce sharply and make it difficult for an opponent to return—a power stroke that gives a player a winning advantage. In Q&A, Topspin, or concluding your answer with your own message is a power stroke that gives you a winning advantage.

For example, if a customer asks why you charge so much for your product, you could explain your pricing rationale by describing the product’s unique features, broad compatibility, or added service features. Then follow your answer with Topspin to your own message by saying:

Our product provides the best solution on the market—and it gives you a bigger bang for your buck.

Resist the tendency to start your response with the sentence above without having provided an answer.

Or, if an investor asks you a question about competition:

What makes you think you can survive against all the big, entrenched leaders in your space?

…and you were to answer:

Let me tell you about our competitive advantage…

You would be saying that not only will your company survive but, in fact, can win. Such an answer –leapfrogging to the Topspin without answering—not only invalidates the questioner, but it also appears contentious and evasive to the entire audience.

Instead, provide an answer that outlines your competitive strategy, or describes new products, or strategic partnerships, and then conclude by saying you have a competitive advantage.

Tell your audience what they want to know and earn the right to Topspin.

Quid pro quo.