I loved the original run of the TV show Arrested Development, in large part because I identified with the no-good character of Gob Bluth.
If you’ve never seen the show, I can’t do it justice here. So let me just say Gob is an irresponsible, childish, struggling stage magician.
He doesn’t think too far ahead and he consistently jumps into problem situations, such as making unintended marriage proposals or voluntarily going to prison. This sets him up for his catchphrase:
“I’ve made a huge mistake.”
Like I said, it might not be funny here in this post, but it’s funny in the show. And it’s funny because I, and I guess many other people, know that sinking feeling.
It happens when you’re here on your grassy but dull knoll… looking at that other grassy but sparkling knoll over there.
Your desire builds until it becomes unbearable. So you charge down your grassy knoll and up the other grassy knoll. And once you reach the top, all sweaty and winded, you notice this new grassy knoll is no better, and is probably worse, than where you started.
“I’ve made a huge mistake.”
Thing is, this pre-existing condition in the human mind — that anything else must be better than what you’ve currently got — can be exploited for sales.
Don’t take my word for it. It’s an idea that many successful marketers have expressed in slightly different ways.
Todd Brown advises not selling improvement on what your prospect already has, but a new solution.
Rich Schefren’s koan for this is, “Different is better than better.”
And Dan Kenendy says, “Sell escape, and not improvement.”
But doesn’t that mean setting your prospect up for a huge mistake? It certainly can. But if you are more forward-thinking than Gob Bluth, then you will water and prune your grassy knoll… so when your prospect arrives, all sweaty and winded, he will see the grass truly is greener there.
And now for something completely different:
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