How to persuade a client. Sort of.

“Are you calling us chicken?,” the client asked. At that moment I knew we had a chance to sell our preferred campaign.

While working on Honda, part of our responsibility was to create all of the messaging associated with the Honda Classic Golf tournament held at PGA National in West Palm Beach. Each year we’d fly out to Florida with three campaigns and present them to the organizers of the tournament. They’d carefully consider all of the options and have a lively discussion about them. They always seemed to narrow them down to the safest campaign and our recommended, more unexpected option. The third year of meeting with them was no different, and after much discussion, they settled on the safer version. “I got to tell you,” I blurted out. “I have a lot of respect for you guys. You always seem to seriously consider doing the riskier campaign,” I continued. “One of these days, you’ll give it a shot.” The client smiled at me. “Are you calling us chicken?” “No, no,” I said, “I meant it as a compliment.”

The next day the client called us and explained they had reconsidered and would like to go with our recommended campaign.