I’ll bet you read that sentence twice. Of course, that’s the whole idea – to get your attention! I’ve found that many people are a little timid, even frightened, to stand out, to do things a little differently. They worry about what people are going to think, or what they are going to say, or that their efforts will be perceived as foolish, or that they won’t really work. In marketing however, the whole idea is to get someone, or a group of people, to take a look at what you’re selling, asking for, or offering.

The notion of polka dot pianos is a metaphor for standing out in the crowd. In our world of incredible competition and sheer volume, it’s more important than ever to stand apart. You certainly don’t want to fade into the background. As long as the product of service you are marketing is at least as good as everyone elses, standing out – offering polka dot pianos – will often make the difference.

When I really want someone to open the mail I’m sending them, for example, I send it via Federal Express or some other overnight delivery service. Obviously, this is a much more expensive route, but think about the trade-off off for a moment. Suppose you’re sending a request to a famous and/or super busy/important person who receives dozens of requests each day. If you, like virtually everyone else simply send your request in a regular business envelope, the chances are excellent that it will be days, perhaps even weeks, before the person even opens your letter. Yet, very few people, irrespective of how famous or busy they are, can resist opening an overnight deliver package. Now that they have opened your mail, there’s a chance they will respond favorably. In this case, your “polka dot piano” was the Federal Express package itself. I can assure you that if your request is granted, you’ll be sold on the idea of polka dot pianos.

A friend of mine, in my eyes, a sales genius, wanted to get an ex-professional football player to invest in his business. The business was solid and an excellent opportunity. The problem was that this particular ex-athlete, known in part for the wealth he had been able to amass, was approached by all sorts of credible entrepreneurs on a daily basis. It was fairly common knowledge that he had essentially stopped reading the request letters.

My friend, adept at creating polka dot pianos, wanted to overcome this obstacle because he know that if he could just get the athlete to read his reports, that he would seriously consider the investment opportunity. So here’s what he did: He taped his request to an actual NFL football and sent it to the man. Needless to say, the former football star recognized the shape of the package, was curious, and opened it immediately. Within a few days my friend received a personal call – not from a secretary, but from the athlete himself – congratulating him on his incredible creativity. The athlete asked my friend to dinner, telling him that, as long as the numbers checked out, and everything was ethical, as it seemed to be, he would be honored to do business with someone who was so clever.

Obviously, not every polka dot piano is going to be so well received – like the one I used in the story in my previous blog post. But instead of giving up, and without becoming obnoxious about it, see if you can create another polka dot piano. Drop your fears about how your opportunities to stand out will be received. As they say in Hollywood, any attention is better than no attention.