“What’s a ‘Mongol’?” “What’s a ‘Horde’?”
I stared and blinked… “You don’t know what a Mongol Horde is? Ghengis Kahn?
“Nope. And I don’t think anyone else does either.”
Me: Blank Stare, “Seriously?”
“Nope”, he said.
Well, there went that metaphor out the window.
I had been writing to his market and waxing poetic on the coming bad times rushing the industry like the Mongol Hordes.
As wonderful as I thought that little metaphor was at the time, to this man, and this audience, I might has well as said, “Zor corrum ip bot snoo.”
Lesson: You better darn well knows what your audience knows - and what they don’t know - before you sit down and start trying to sell them.
Hey, from my world-view, EVERY ONE new who and what the Mongol Hordes were.
And that world view would have cost this millionaire money.
Did you know that millionaires don’t like losing money?
And just in case you know what a Horde is and think this guy was clueless, you need to know that he’s built not one, but several multi-million dollar enterprises.
That encounter was mild compared to the next…
I was helping a guy work out a joint venture with another multi-millionaire. The venture was worth an easy million a year.
So, in the heat of the pitch I happen to mention that this deal would create an incredible “synergy” between the two companies.
At the mention of “synergy” you would have thought I spit on his wife.
He exploded, “Synergy? Synergy? What’s synergy? How much a year do you make college boy? Look around you, (we were in a high-rise office overlooking the ocean) what’s your office look like? You probably don’t have one. I drive a Rolls. What do you drive? Synergy…I don’t know what synergy means, I’m just a millionaire.”
If I could have jumped through the 11th story window I would have. There was stunned silence in the office. Everyone was looking at me to see how I would respond (or to see how far my tail was tucked between my legs).
One single word had pulled the pin on a grenade rolling around in this guy’s head.
The lesson: Again, you better know your audience before you write your copy.
Okay, now something from the bright side…
The third millionaire was a master deal maker. I don’t mean pathetically small, million-dollar deals. I mean $150 million dollar deals. DEALS.
On several occasions I got to watch from the sidelines of the luxury box at the arena as he worked his spell.
Often these deals were being worked in industries or businesses our DEAL Maker had no experience. So, I watched in amazement as the deal-master’s vernacular would begin to change and adopt the vernacular of his targets.
The guy was a chameleon.
He had no idea what he was even saying. Yet, as he picked up the lingo from his targets, he was talking their language. He became “one of them” in about 15 minutes flat.
They would use some industry specific word. He would repeat it and nod his head knowingly. They would talk more, he would begin to feed their own words, phrases and vernacular back to them.
“Do you see how I did that?” he would ask me.
It was amazing. Both his skill and the effect.
The lesson: When you can tap into the language, thoughts and vernacular of your audience - the cash flows like a river.
Alright, I’ve got a market to go understand, you?
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