12 Oct 2025 · 1 min
A fax machine made mail look slow. Email made faxes look slow. Once you show people a better way, they can't unsee it. That contrast is the only persuasion that matters.
Once you put the right idea into the world, it raises the bar. People can't unsee it. It changes our narrative. The existence of your new product, service, or innovation means that everything that used to be compared to it is now treated differently. When we got the fax machine, postal mail seemed too slow. And when we got email, fax machines seemed positively Jurassic. Okay, so these examples are once-in-a-lifetime innovations, but the same thing happens when when the first restaurant installs a salad bar, or the local insurance agent or real estate broker gets rid of voicemail and starts answering the phone on the first ring, or when the hair salon install— installs a coffee bar including a full-time barista. These things raise the bar. Once seen, they can't be unseen.
Every buyer interaction either confirms or contradicts what we claim about ourselves.