In the 2006 version of Casino Royale, there’s a classic James Bond pickup scene.
Bond is talking to the beautiful wife of one of the bad guys. After a bit of flirty banter, Bond looks her straight in the eye and says, “What about a drink at my place?”
He stares at her. She stares at him. The tension builds.
“Your place,” she says breathlessly, “is it close?”
“Very,” says Bond.
Now imagine if Bond couldn’t play so cool. Instead of throwing out that one proposal, imagine if he threw out three:
“What about a drink at my place? Or maybe some nachos? How about breakfast tomorrow in case you’re busy now?”
Even with his ice-cold stare, odds are he wouldn’t get the same response.
“Bond. James Bond. You can call me Jim. Or James. Whichever is easier.”
A while ago, I was reading “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath. This is the best book I’ve come across on how to present ideas clearly and in a way that people will remember. One of the things the Heaths say is, “Say one thing. If you say three things, you end up saying nothing at all.”
Michael Masterson and John Forde’s “Great Leads” emphasizes the same concept, which they call “The Rule of One – One Big Idea.”
In fact, the book opens up with the story of two speeches that were given by two Agora copywriters. One speech focused on one idea, the importance of clarity in writing. The other was something like “12 rules I follow when writing copy.”
The audience thought both speeches were terrific. But at the end of the night, people were only talking about the single idea in the first speech.
I’ve recently been working on some emails for a cool product. The product helps people make their own fermented food. And the emails I’m writing are specifically for people who’ve stated that they want to ferment for health reasons.
I’ve been going around in circles writing these emails. I need to get across a few ideas. One is that fermented foods are important for your health. The second is that fermenting can be a hassle. A third is that store-bought fermented foods aren’t a great choice compared to fermenting food yourself.
The problem is I’ve been trying to do this in the same email. This breaks the “Rule of One.” No wonder I’ve been re-reading the emails and thinking they are somehow weak and unconvincing.
The fix is simple. Pick one idea. Develop it in detail. Present it clearly. And then do the same for the other ideas, but in separate emails.