Page 268 - ConvinceThemFlip

convince them in 90 seconds or less
“Yep.”
“The new software system is kind of like a . . . ?”
There was a brief pause at the other end of the line,
then, “I don’t know where this came from, but the first
thing I saw was a train.”
“Great,” I said. “Tell me about the train.”
“It’s been heading in the wrong direction for a long
time.”
“What else?”
“We’ve managed to stop the train and turn it around.
Now we know where the controls are and we’ve got the
train on the right tracks.” He was on a roll. “We’re ready
to get everyone on board and show them where to sit and
then get rolling in the right direction.”
“Excellent,” I said. “How would you feel about using an
‘All Aboard’ theme at the meeting?”
It was a simple phrase but good enough to get every-
one thinking the same way.
At a workshop for financial planners, I asked the par-
ticipants to write down the first thing that came into their
heads to complete the phrase “I am kind of like a . . . ”
The idea was to show them how easily they could conjure
vivid memorable images. I told them to select anything
that came to mind—an eagle, a carrot, a Sherman tank—it
didn’t matter. Usually the very first thing that comes into
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