When the corpse flower opened

James Tuckerman

4d ago (edited) in Value Bombs (Insights) 💣

In my home town, thousands of people gathered outside the local botanic gardens…

…to watch the Corpse Flower open.

Strangely, it was a HUGE event.

It was in the news, it was talked about in cafes and diners, it was Live Streamed!

And that’s because the Corpse Flower only blooms once every 7 to 9 years.

And it smells like rotting flesh.

But that’s not the strange thing.

The strange thing is that pretty much NONE OF THE PEOPLE who lined up (some for hours) to see the Corpse Flower had any interest in botany, or flowers, or corpses.

Indeed, most of us normally try to avoid the smell of rotting flesh!

So, what was really happening here?

Humans are hard-wired to desire things that are ‘scarce’.

And that served us well in ancestral times.

If something was in limited supply, you had to grab that thing.

Grabbing that scarce thing could have meant the difference between life and death.

But, in modern times, there are very few things that will kill you.

Most of us are more likely to die of obesity than starvation!

So, what's the purpose of this post?

I'm highlighting a marketing tactic.

If you want to 'engineer desire' in you or your product or what you do...

Here are a couple of ethical ways that you can harness the principle of 'scarcity'.

1) Limit the types of people or businesses that you work with.

This not only helps with scarcity but it helps you build a better business too.

When you choose to work with anyone, you will always provide an 'inconsistent' experience. And you can't grow any type of scaleable business that way.

Off less things to less people, and everyone wins.

2) Create barriers for people who want to meet with you.

We use 'triage' forms to pre-quliafy who we choose to meet with.

That way, we don't waste our time meeting with people who are the wrong fit.

If you'd like to see an example of that, answer the question below.

WHAT TYPE OF BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE:

A.) We sell KNOWLEDGE & EXPERTISE

B.) We sell THINGS like PHYSICAL PRODUCTS

C.) We sell SUBSCRIPTION SOFTWARE & SAAS

Click the option that most applies to you.

3) Share a booking link to become the Prize.

You're already familiar with how booking links work?

They are EXREMELY useful at stopping all the 'back and forth' when booking a call.

But there's something a litle arrogant about it too (in a good way).

Whe you say, 'Here's my link', you are forcing someone else to acknowledge that THEY need YOU. The person who completes the form has the greatest need.

So finally...

Speaking of Scarcity.

In coming weeks, I'm hosting this.

And I'm giving away some free passes.

If you want one, click here.

James 'One-Time-Only' Tuckerman

P.S. Like any marketing tactic, 'scarcity' can be used both ethically and in dodgy ways. When do we choose to use it? When it's going to help our clients or help us build a better business (which also helps us help our clients). Too simple, yeah.

2 comments