August 11, 2019

Wolves vs Dinosaurs

Sent by Jonathan Stark on August 12th, 2019

Yesterday during a family shopping trip to Target, my 5yo daughter saw a pair of fuzzy wolf pajamas that she simply had. to. have.

Since she loves wolves (and because I’m wrapped around her little finger) I said “Sure!”

Shortly thereafter, she saw a dinosaur necktie that she simply. had. to. have.

I’m trying to get better about the “little finger” thing, so I presented her with a choice:

“Would you rather have the wolf jammies OR the dino tie?”

She considered her options. I could see on her face that she was really thinking about it. After about 10 seconds of serious deliberation, she confidently answered:

“Wolf jammies.”

Okay, so pretty boring story, right? Kid decides which thing she wants. Big deal.

But think about what happened… given two options, she made a decisive - and completely subjective - choice about which would make her more happy. Which she would rather have. Which was more valuable to her.

Here’s the thing…

Clients do the exact. same. thing.

They decide which thing they would rather have: the money they have sitting unused in their checking account OR the business outcome that you provide.

The difference between you and the jammy situation is that the business outcomes you provide might be partial or intangible or protracted.

The more you can do to make them complete and tangible and immediate, the easier it’ll be for them to decide that it’s more valuable than their unused money.

Yours,

—J