From the laptop of:
Jan-Michael Britten
England, United Kingdom.
Dear stranger on the internet,
You’ve just been teleported all the way back to the mid-1920s…
A well-dressed man with dark slicked-back hair pulls up into a small, bustling town in his trusty Ford station wagon.
He’s been on the road for weeks, maybe months, hopping from place to place.
After parking his automobile, he steps out, puts his hat on and grabs his case from the back.
Taking a second to compose himself, he confidently walks over to the general store and strikes up a conversation with the clerk behind the counter.
“Good afternoon” he says, tipping his hat…
“Lovely day we’re having, isn’t it?”
The clerk nods, half-listening, as the man leans casually against the counter.
He doesn’t pull out his case.
Instead, he starts talking…
“You know” he begins, his voice warm and friendly “You won’t believe what happened to me over in Ridgefield the other day.
There’s this lady I met, Mrs. Parker…
She runs the general store over there, inherited it from her father, but she’s been running it herself for years—a sharp woman, always on her feet, always busy.”
The clerk raises an eyebrow, trying his best to ignore the man.
“I was standing in line, waiting my turn, when a customer started complaining about the frying pan she’d purchased recently…
Now, I was trying not to eavesdrop, honest, but it was kinda difficult when it was happening right in front of me, you know?
Anyway, she was frustrated and upset, saying that no matter what she tried to cook in it, the result was always the same…
Burnt food, stuck-on grease and wasted hours scrubbing just to get it clean.
I distinctly remember her saying ‘What’s the point of cooking if the cleaning takes twice as long?!’
I mean, she had a point, don’t you think?”
The clerk shrugs but doesn’t say anything.
The man continues “When I got to the counter I could see the strained look on Mrs. Parker’s face…
She wasn’t just sad about the pan. No sir. It was about more than that—her reputation, her customers and the fear they might start going some place else.
So I asked her if she’d let me show her something.”
He leans in slightly, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret with the clerk…
“I said ‘What if I could hand you a frying pan that never sticks? Not eggs, not pancakes, not even melted cheese.’”
The clerk glances up, intrigued.
“She didn’t believe me, of course” the man says, chuckling…
“Just rolled her eyes and said ‘I’ve heard that one before.’ But you know what I told her?”
“What?” says the clerk, leaning forward, eager to find out the answer.
“Three words—‘I’ll prove it.’” The man says, flashing a big grin.
“How’d you do that?” the clerk asks, unfolding his arms.
“Well, she invited me to her home the next morning to make good on my promise…
So that’s exactly what I did. I went round bright and early before she and her husband left for work.
I stood in her kitchen, pan in hand and said ‘Let’s give it a try.’
Right then and there, we fried up the most perfect egg you could imagine…
No oil, no butter—just the pan and the hot stove. And you know what?
That egg slid out so smoothly, it was like we cooked it on silk.” He chuckles, shaking his head.
“By the time her husband came downstairs, she’d cooked him an entire breakfast. And you know what she said?
‘This pan’s not leaving this house!’”
The clerk blinks widely, a smile stretching across his mouth.
“Yes sir, by the time I left, she’d ordered 25 of the darn things off me right then and there!
Said it was the easiest decision she’d made all year…
Said her customers were gonna be thrilled to get their hands on one.”
He lets the moment hang in the air, just long enough to let his last sentence settle.
“Now” he says, as he picks up the case that’s been resting by his side this whole time “I didn’t come here looking to sell you anything you don’t need…
But, if you’re curious—if you’d like to see for yourself what I showed Mrs. Parker—I’d be more than happy to give you a peek.”
The clerk eyes the man’s case for a second before giving a small nod. “Alright” he says, almost without thinking “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
The man’s grin widens “I thought you might say that.”
And just like that you’ve time-travelled back to the present day…
Pretty cool, right?
What you’ve just witnessed there is the magic of the “old-school attention hack” in action…
Because if you’re still here, there’s one thing that hooked you, reeled you in and has you hanging on for more…
And it’s exactly the same thing that got the store clerk to go from ice cold “I’m not interested” to red hot “let me see what you’ve got”…
You see, nothing flies under the radar, overcomes skepticism or persuades more powerfully than…
A good ol’ fashioned…
Why?
Because selling to the heart is a million times more powerful than selling to the head.
Stories work because they trigger our emotions.
People don’t buy something because it makes them think a certain way, they buy something because it makes them FEEL a certain way.
The store clerk was sold on the idea to give into the man's invitation to look inside his case because he painted the picture of how the clerk could feel if he did.
Think about it…
If I had just written this letter as another boring “explainer” article, do you think you would have believed that stories really DO work for hacking your attention?…
No, of course you wouldn’t.
You would have been skeptical…
And rightly so.
Instead however, I proved they work because I wrote one so that you could experience it first hand.
In other words, I made you feel it before you thought it, which ultimately sold you on the idea they work.
If you want your customers to pay attention to what you have to offer…
Do the same thing.
Don’t try to sell them…
Try to compel them.
Help them SEE themselves in your story.
Go on, give it a shot next time you write something…
I guarantee you’ll transform the way your customers feel about you.
Until next time,
Jan-Michael “sell me a story” Britten
P.S. Online, you might not be walking into a general store with a case in your hand but the truth remains the same…
There’s nothing quite like telling a story for being able to disarm someone’s defenses and persuade them to do something.
Old school salesmen knew this better than anyone.
To make your content stand out YOU must start using them.
Oh, and if you REALLY want them to hit the mark, there’s one “hypnotic trigger” you need to include too…
You’ll find out what it is by clicking this link.
