I was reminded of a term today that I haven’t heard in quite some time – the smoking gun. In the legal market the term smoking gun refers to that piece of evidence that makes it so your opponent cannot win. There’s always a smoking gun that positions you above everyone else – ALWAYS!I recall a story about a client who sold lawn care services and every year some of his workers would break off on their own and steal away his clients by offering to do the same work they were already doing for less: “Just pay me personally instead of my company.” The research team turned up a case in which the state of New York actually sued a homeowner, forcing that homeowner to pay worker’s compensation on the lawn care person who hurt himself. Take that piece of data to the customer who’s switching for $5 less per month and ask them: “Are you sure that your new lawn care person has worker’s compensation insurance? Because if he doesn’t and he gets hurt on your property you could be responsible for his workers comp. Payments.” This is definitely a smoking gun – a single fact that makes it unlikely that any client would want to switch to a single worker who didn’t have all the proper licensing and insurance.

Look hard enough and you will always find a smoking gun that will add strength to your marketing communications. By finding a smoking gun you automatically turn regular communications that can be seen as standard “dribble” into powerful emotional communication that grabs a customer or prospects attention. Spend time finding that smoking gun to easily stand out and hold the attention of the client/prospect. It works every time.