"A Rainbow Of Colors"

Heard a radio commercial today for a women's clothing store that's touting its new Spring Collection.  "A rainbow of colors, the perfect way to get Spring fever," is what I think it said.  Did anyone hear that, feel that, see that?  Nope.  Cliches -- way overused.

How about this...

"Remember in The Wizard of Oz  -- the house is spinning, everything's in black and white and grey.  And then...crash...the house hits hard and wakes up Dorothy.  She slowly makes her way to the door...and then...she slowly opens it.  Do you remember what it looked like?  So many colors!  Take just a second...can you see it right now?  You can at XYZ -- we call it our Spring collection..."

Did you see that?  Sure you did.  And it looked a little different to you than it did to me because you created it yourself, in your own mind.

But they won't say that because it takes too much time.  It doesn't give them time to talk about their "great customer service" or their "large selection of sizes" or  "ample parking."

And they do this because they think the message has to have something in it for everyone.  Who's everyone? 

What about you?  Do you let your customers use their imagination?  Do you tell them a story they can spread?

Or...do you go from cliche to cliche listing "benefits" that nobody hears?  And then, lemme guess -- you probably wonder why very few people show up.

"The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size."  Oliver Wendell Holmes

Take each customer on a trip.  Expand her mind -- it won't return to its original size, but she might just return to your store.