I was talking with a client the other day who loves language and appreciates the importance of the right words to connect with customers and prospects. I mentioned I enjoyed our conversations and that nearly everyone always underestimates the power of exactly the right words presented in exactly the right way to persuade, motivate and sell... whether it's an idea, agenda, product and service.
Then I heard a podcast while walking the dog over the weekend where Penn Jillette—the magician, juggler, comedian, musician, actor, author and talking half of Penn & Teller—summed up the secret to their phenomenal success:
"The whole thing about magic is there's only one trick we do—and that trick is we're willing to work harder than you think we would work. We just put a trick in the show that runs 3 minutes that Teller and I worked on for 6 years solid. You would not work 6 years to do 3 minutes. We will.
"As with success in any field, it's always everything. The tricks have to be perfect. One of the big mistakes young magicians make is getting really excited about an idea or concept for a trick that really may be absolutely brilliant and they may absolutely love it. But then they think that the idea is so good they don't have to do it perfectly. Once you get the brilliant idea then you've got to do all the stupid shit. So we have an idea that's from our hearts, never been done before and is brilliant. Then we have to have someone sitting way over stage left, way over stage right and up in the balcony going, 'No, I can see your left hand, nope, nope, nope,' and it's really frustrating because you think you've got this great idea and then you have to do the dirt-dump stuff to present it right.
"The only useful thing I learned in high school was from one substitute teacher one day who said in front of my writing class, 'No one wants to read what you write—no one. So make it as easy for them as you can, because the first thing they bump into that gives them an excuse not to read, they will stop. The first thing that's a little hard to read, the first word that out of place or misspelled—people move right on. Every word has to perfectly chosen.'
"A brilliant idea is not enough. Bob Dylan is a good example. He has brilliant idea for a song or say, Blonde on Blonde, the most brilliant pop record ever done. These songs are so good that if you just pull out a guitar and recite the lyrics and play the chords, it would be impressive. But he knows that's not enough. So Bob then goes to Nashville and gets the best session cats and the best producers possible and gets those things played absolutely beautifully. Because he knows that if the snare drum is not well recorded, there are some people that are going to reject it and the brilliant idea won't carry you through. So the most important thing [in success] is everything."
Perfecting every note, every trick and every word makes a big difference.
Listen to the full interview here.
