Whether it’s in a press release, a Power Point, or a speech, marketers are always looking for the concise, understandable and memorable way to say what we mean. Don’t underestimate the difficulty of the task–frequently, as inventors, or entrepreneurs, or marketers, we’re so close to the situation that the obvious solution is elusive.
Sometimes the solution is as simple as 1-2-3. For some reason, expressing ideas in 3s caught on and has not really ever let go. Maybe it’s the Holy Trinity. Or maybe it’s the Jackson Five and their ditty “ABC.” (“It’s simple as 1-2-3, do re mi, ABC, baby you and me.”)
Or, how about this one? “For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game.” There’s first, second and third base, but no fourth base, that’s “home.” If you’re not into baseball, or are Canadian, hockey games have three periods.
In government, there are the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Movie makers’ best ideas become trilogies like “The Godfather”
or clever titles that seem to say it all, like “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Warren Zevon wrote a song called “Lawyers, Guns, and Money.”
You can have no idea what the song is about, but lawyers, guns and money provides a general sense of the predicament. Even one-shots become threes, such as the real estate agent’s maxim, “Location, location, location.”
Since this rhetorical device got started around the time of Julius Caesar (“I came, I saw, I conquered”), we’re now used to seeing ideas, items, and sales points grouped in threes, so the Power of 3 is probably here to stay.
If you’re a marketer, or persuader of any sort, you can put the Power of 3 to work for you. It’s not hard to see how the Power of 3 got started. There’s the first benefit–”It will simplify your life”. The potential customer may say “OK, I understand that. What else have you got? “It will increase your earning potential.” That’s a fairly powerful product that will simplify your life and increase your earning potential. The customer has to pause and consider that. Then the advertiser proclaims, “But wait–there’s more.” How many times have you heard that one in a sales pitch?
The potential customer says, “You mean there’s something else?” This is often the “kicker,” the one that’s going to tilt them in your favor. So, the third benefit is often the one that doesn’t explain the product–you probably did that in your first point–but the one that will send them over the edge to a decision. “And, it costs next to nothing” or will save you big time in the long run. So, if I were selling solar energy my pitch would be 1) It’s easy to install (I already know that’s going to be the big objection) 2) The sun is a powerful energy provider there for the taking (the second benefit flows naturally from the first) and 3)
You’ll soon be selling power back to the utility company (something the customer hadn’t even thought of, the kicker).
Put the Power of 3 to work for you soon.
