A few weeks ago, I was listening to an interview with an FBI special agent. That’s how I found out there’s an application process for getting onto the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list. Says the FBI agent:
“Yeah, there’s an application process, because the FBI knows that this is going to be on the media. Everyone’s going to scrutinize this, so they want to make sure everything is correct. You know, there has to be a little bit of a, I wouldn’t say, a wow factor is not the right word, but a factor of saying, ‘Listen, wow, I’m really interested in this.'”
The FBI agent seems to be trying to not glamorize violent crime.
First he denies criminals who get on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list have a “wow” factor.
But right after, that’s exactly what he confirms. There has to be an element of “wow.” There has to be something to set the criminal apart and to get the public interested.
Really, when you think about it, that’s not much of a surprise.
There are millions of criminals around the U.S.
There are probably tens of thousands of violent, dangerous, would-be-great-to-get-into-custody-today criminals. But there’s only so much space in the news and only so much capacity for attention in the public mind.
Of course, you are not a criminal. That’s good.
But I think the lesson from the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted holds even on this side of the law.
Whatever it is that you do, you are competing against a bunch of other people.
Maybe millions of others.
More likely, thousands do something like you do. Even a few dozen options in a market is more than the public mind can comfortably handle.
So you need a “wow” factor. Something to set you apart and to get people interested. Because simply doing your job very well — or very violently — is usually not enough.
There are lots of ways you can create a “wow” factor for yourself.
I’ve done it for myself using what I’ve called the Most Valuable Email trick.
This trick is not stories, or pop culture illustrations, or shock and controversy.
It’s something else entirely. Something that others have used profitably before I started using the Most Valuable Email trick, and still others have used profitably since I taught it to them.
If you’d like to learn the Most Valuable Email trick yourself, you can. It takes all of an hour to learn and start applying in your own emails, so you can create a kind of “wow” factor for yourself.
If that’s something you’re interested in, take a look here: