A follow-up to last week’s post – what did happen to the captain who was one day from retirement? And what the FOFU has this got to do with marketing?
Last week I used the analogy of detectives following up on leads in my case against MQLs, in that an MQL is work to do, not a done deal, like a lead is for a detective. In that analogy, I dropped in the movie trope, of the cop captain who’s a few days from retirement.
“We expect high fives when we toss the lead into the sales, but what they see is a future of emptying the perps bin on their desk and sifting for clues, while the captain (who’s about to retire) shouts from their office.”
Which I have discovered has a name “Retirony”
In the comments, Andy Follows asked me how the captain’s last day went – so this week, the challenge was accepted – let’s see how far we can stretch this analogy…..
…
Well, our protagonist, the captain, finished shouting at the detective chasing up leads and closed his office door; there was a knock, and it was his daughter with his granddaughter; they were in the city picking up the costume for her granddaughter’s first solo dance performance.
Her hair was all braided, and she looked neat in her school uniform. She looked up at him, with shining, big eyes and asked, “Will you be at the dance recital on Sunday, pops?”
“Sure I will, kid” he said
When they left, he sat at his desk, a looked at the photo of his wife in Aruba, standing next to the plot of land they’d bought. Not long now, he thought.
On his last day of retirement, he knew how this story goes.
He just needed to make it through the next shift.
So, FOFU (Fear of Fucking Up) kicked in; he would avoid doing anything, sit on his hands and let the day pass while occasionally shouting at the detectives that the leads are weak.
Maybe I am confusing my film genres.
This would make for a dreadful movie. Nothing would happen. The problem would go unsolved with some unsavory perps would continue roaming around the city.
Our Captain is seemingly unaware that Danny Glover’s character in Lethal Weapon made it through another three movies. Movies that were hailed at the time as redefining the category.
While our buyers are not retiring police captains trapped in a trope, they do have the equivalent of plots of land in Aruba, families counting on them to do something, and colleagues’ trust and respect to worry about.
And in some cases a strong desire to play it safe and not risk any of those things.
Succumb to the FOFU and do nothing.
Our challenge is to convince the buyer that he will survive to make 2 or 3 sequels, not just survive, but create rave reviews.
After all, Lethal Weapon was described as “The most successful installment in a phenomenally successful franchise”.
What could our buyers achieve if they didn’t have FOFU?
Fancy more of this?
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I’m a 3xCMO, now a marketing strategy advisor and podcast host at Rockstar CMO. Although, I’m not a rock star, but a marketing leader, strategist, content marketer, columnist, speaker, industry watcher, and creator of ART (Awareness, Revenue, and Trust) for the companies I work with. But most of all, I am an enthusiastic tea drinker.
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