When I was a nine or ten-year-old punk, I went to a summer day camp. The guy who owned the camp picked us up in a yellow school bus and took us to parks to play games and do other outdoorsy things. Sometimes, he took us to do indoorsy things like bowling.
One day, I had a particularly good bowling outing but I had bowled ten frames and was done for the day. I didn’t want to be done, I wanted to keep bowling, so I got creative.
The camp owner’s five-year-old son was with us and he had not had a good game. C’mon, he was five. He could barely roll the ball all the way to the pins. His name was Scotty (and no, I don’t know how I remember that) and I asked Scotty to let me bowl a frame for him. “I promise I’ll get you a strike,†I said.
Scotty resisted my offer but finally relented. I’ll tell you what happened in a minute.
I thought about this story this morning as I was thinking about the election. Bowling promises and campaign promises? Why not?
Anyway, as lawyers, we would love to be able to promise results to our clients, but we can’t do it. Aside from the fact that it’s ethically verboten, and the fact that we lose all credibility when we can’t deliver on our promise, it’s bad marketing because most people won’t believe you.
Better to say you’ll try. Give it your best. Or point your finger at the camera and proclaim, “I’ll fight for you!â€
Your marketing messages should demonstrate your prowess by showing what you have done for other clients and making the case for hiring you. But then edit them and back off on the chest pounding a bit and inject a dose of humility into the picture. Let people can see that you’re not just saying what you think they want to hear.
It’s called verisimilitude–the appearance of truth. Because sometimes, the truth sounds too good to be true.
Unfortunately, had I told Scotty that I would do my best to get him a strike, he probably would have turned me down. I had to promise a strike. But hey, we were kids and kids will say anything to get what they want. Just like politicians.
So, what happened? I bowled a strike. Scotty was happy, I was happy (relieved), and the other campers who had heard my boast were impressed.
But I wonder if there might have been a better lesson for us kids had I not rolled that strike. Perhaps we would have learned that we can’t always trust things that are promised to us or that we shouldn’t look to others to make us successful, we have to learn how to do it ourselves.
Nah, screw that. We were kids having fun and there’s nothing wrong with that. I promise.
Get this and you might get a lot more referrals
