Some businesses have the extra challenge of offering a product or service that people NEED, but don’t necessarily WANT – think insurance, accountants, health & safety or dentists!
If you’ve ever had to give a tablet to your poorly dog or cat, you will know it’s not easy to give them something they don’t want. The answer? Smother the pill in peanut butter and they lap it up.
If your product or service is a bit of a ‘pill’, then story is the ‘peanut butter’ that will get people engaged.
Ben & Emma Marsh of James Cameron Legal specialise in estate planning & wills and they use stories a LOT. They often start a talk by reading a fictional letter from HM Government to a family left to sort out someone’s estate after they’ve died without making a will – thanking them for all the “extra tax”!
They also share stories about famous people – like Jimi Hendrix, who died in 1970 but elements of his estate are still being disputed in the courts to this day.
If your message needs a bit of peanut butter on it to get people engaged with something they need, but don’t necessarily want, wrap it up in a powerful story.
