Something you might not know about me is that I am not a fighter pilot.
Not even close.
I don’t even like flying as a passenger on a commercial plane.
But still, I have fantasies of how cool it must be to be a fighter pilot, based on movies like Top Gun and The Right Stuff.
Many of those fantasies were ruined for me today while I listened to an interview with an actual fighter pilot, one who flies a modern F-18.
He tried to repeatedly make it clear:
Flying a modern fighter jet is less about seat-of-the-pants flying skill and more about integrating a huge flow of information from all the panels and monitors and sensors.
But the podcaster who conducted this interview didn’t want to hear any of this.
Like me, the interviewer grew up on movies and video games. So he asked questions about the Red Baron and about Maverick from Top Gun.
The fighter pilot dutifully answered. And then, he tried to once again explain the complexities of how things really work today.
The interviewer glossed over these explanations. He kept circling back to what he really wanted to believe. At one point he got impatient. He asked:
“I know you said this doesn’t happen any more in aerial combat, so this might be a silly question. But what if an enemy plane gets on your tail? How would you shake him?”
The fighter pilot smiled sadly.
“It depends on which plane was behind me,” he said. “The F-18 has a very short turning radius. I might be able to evade him by making a quicker turn. But if it’s the same plane like mine, he could mimic every move that I do.”
The interviewer paused for a moment. “So you’d be fucked?”
“Yep,” the fighter pilot said. “I’d be fucked.”
One thing I’ve learned, from years of watching Top Gun, is that landing a fighter jet on an tiny aircraft carrier runway is the trickiest thing a fighter pilot has to do.
Another thing I’ve learned, from years of writing daily emails, is that landing a story about fighter jets on an dry marketing takeaway is the trickiest thing a daily email pilot has to do.
But I’m fearless, so let me try it now:
You know that thing above, about having the enemy plane on your tail? You might liken that to your competition. Hear me out.
Maybe you’re blessed to have an advantage that allows you to evade or overtake the competition — your shorter turning radius, your “USP.”
But maybe you don’t have anything like that.
Maybe your fighter jet is much like the one that the other guy or gal has.
What then?
Unlike the fighter pilot, you have some options. But I can tell you one thing that’s unlikely to work.
And it’s to dive into the complexity. To explain to your market how your offer actually works. To point at all the panels and the sensors, and to explain what they do and why that’s important.
Just like with the interviewer above, that kind of information will only make your market impatient and will likely be ignored.
So what to do instead?
That’s what I’ll be talking about during my upcoming Wine Into Water workshop, next Thursday evening.
For more information on that, here are the details from an earlier email:
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Next Thursday, June 27th, I will host a little workshop with a few people.
I’m calling it the Water Into Wine workshop.
It will be all about a specific technique for repackaging and repositioning your offers so they sell better.
If you currently have an offer that’s not selling, this technique can start selling that offer for you.
On the other hand, if you have an offer that’s selling already, this technique can sell your offer more easily and for more money.
The ticket to join the Wine Into Water workshop is $197.
The workshop will happen live on Zoom, next Thursday, at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. It will also be recorded. So if you cannot attend live, you can still get your hands on this info and apply it to your own offers as soon as next Friday.
I’m not sure whether there will be a ton of demand for this workshop. In any case, I’ll cap the number of folks who sign up to 20 maximum.
Are you interested in joining us?
If so, just reply to this email.
I won’t have a public-facing sales page for this offer, and replying is the only way to get more info or get in.
Of course, if you reply to this email to express interest, it doesn’t oblige you in any way. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have and help you decide if this workshop is or isn’t right for you.