I have this wonderful little book called Imagination In Business by Lorin F. Deland. His definition of imagination is quite useful — “Imagination is the ability, upon seeing any object, to construct around that object its probable or possible environment.” He goes on to say,  “The man of imagination writes a drama. His dramatic instinct apprehends the power of contrasts; he constructs a plot; he realizes what each person will do, and why he will do it. His characters take possession of his will; they act out their own destiny. He relates it all together.”

It’s the ability to have your clients and prospects see themselves; see their situation, in your story, your solution. When you can achieve this, you’ve hit a home run. One of the quickest and most effective ways to turn prospects into clients is to do just this — help them articulate what they want and need then show them how they can have it.

One of the best ways to introduce imagination into your business story is to relate one thing to another — focus on relating separate thoughts/objects/ideas into one. Deland calls this the “synthesis of the mind.”

Deland’s provides a brilliant example of how to get people into your story, how to relate separate thoughts into one… I’ll paraphrase it here:

One Saturday afternoon two boys were standing at opposite sides of a crowded thoroughfare. Each were offering their shoe shine services. Each boy had his shoe shine box slung over his shoulder and each stood at the curb to solicit the passers-by. Each boy had a “call” or method of solicitation — a headline! They each repeated their solicitation at regular intervals. The two  solicitations were entirely different but each was composed of only four words. They never varied from these four words. Yet, one of these boys secured twice as much business as the other.

The first boy’s solicitation was, “Shine your boots here.”

The second boy’s solicitation was, “Get your Sunday shine!”

Since it was a Saturday, late in the afternoon, the second boy was able to relate two different but important pieces of information— (1) he was there to shine your shoes; (2) tomorrow was Sunday, time was running out and no self-respecting Christian would want to go to Church with dull shoes.

Lorin F. Deland wrote this book in 1909 but it seems to me like things have not changed much. In fact, for the most part, human nature has not changed since the beginning of human nature!

So, what will be your solicitation, your headline today?