Ideas That Spread Win
Most of us have heard the idiom, “the best thing since sliced bread.”
Most of us haven’t heard that sliced bread was a failure for over 15 years.
Why?
Because, in 1910, Otto Rohwedder wasn’t trying to invent sliced bread. He was focused on inventing how to slice bread—the machines that slice bread and the factories to do it in mass and the patent to protect his invention. But, people don’t care about that. People just want the thing that can make their life better.
Although Otto is credited with inventing the machine, it wasn’t until 1930 that Wonder Bread made sliced bread popular. They mesmerized people with colorful packaging (inspired by the wonder of seeing hundreds of balloons released) and piqued curiosity by what is known as “blind advertising” running ads for a mystery product to eventually be revealed.
They said it was “squeezably soft” denoting freshness and “tastes as good as homemade” even though it was made in a factory. And, yes, they put into print the words, “The greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.”
I guess wrapped bread was the greatest thing before slicing.
Remarkable
In his book “Purple Cow” Seth Godin introduced us to the thought shift from making average things for the average masses to making remarkable things for the few—the innovators and early adopters who are curious about new, potentially remarkable things. These people like to learn about and talk about their new discoveries.
To be remarkable is to be or do something worth remarking about to others.
Chiropractic, in its essential principles, is, in my opinion, quantifiably remarkable. A gift humanity has been given. It is so good and so far reaching it does at times, to some, sound unbelievable and even snake oil-ish.
If it’s that good, how we present and represent it should match its remarkable-ness.
And, if we’re lucky enough, Seth optimistically suggests, those people who find our thing (and/or us) remarkable will tell everyone else.
He further elevates the idea refering to these people as those who have otaku.
Otaku
This Japanese word describes people who are obsessed with something. It’s more recently been used to describe lovers of anime; aka “fangirls/guys.”
In my house of 5 daughters, it’s a Swiftie (I’m supposed to correct this to say that only one of them is really a Swiftie - duly noted). This demographic takes the concept of fanaticism to an entirely different level. Or, maybe it’s that person who craves a certain brand of coffee, tortilla, sauce, pastry or other product they’ll pay triple the price for and have shipped halfway across the country or planet regularly so they get “that feeling.”
These are the people who have the greatest potential to spread our big idea.
But what if we can’t find very many of them or they don’t seem terribly interested or capable of sharing with others? You can certainly give them simple opportunities like business cards or gift certificates for a free consultation or other similar ideas. There are even automations that email or text a template message they can send to their friends and family. I’ve never been a huge fan of these methods because it just seems disingenuous or contrived. Not saying it’s wrong, it just doesn’t feel good for me.
Because of this, I’ve focused on wowing my “Family Members” from the moment I meet them with personal caring, listening with understanding, and providing empowering educational content, inspirational stories of others’ transformation, and equipping them with practical tools.
Gilles LeMarche taught me, “I only take care of friends and family… and friends are just people who haven’t become family yet.” Being the kind of person you want your family to be like and treating them the way you want your family to operate and those who don’t fit won’t stay and you’ll find these are the only people you see each day.
Another avenue is to find people already obsessed with something in close proximity to what you offer. I feel like we (the profession as a whole) have done a pretty good job of this to link wellness, salutogenic care, fitness, nutrition, natural, general self-care, etc. But, we can always do better.
Bonus principle: It takes a lot of milk to get cream. Practically speaking, you’ll go through a lot of people to get the right people in your practice, but it’s worth it. Be patient.
So, if we want to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, we need to focus on the remarkable. Be remarkable. Speak about the remarkable. Deliver the remarkable.
In the next blog, I’ll address how social media is actually making us less remarkable.