How to start a cult around your pet business

Wednesday, March 26, 1997.

Police receive an anonymous tip, and bust into a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe.

Inside, they find 39 dead men and women. The victims are all wearing matching dark clothes and Nike sneakers, and there’s no signs of any struggle.

Later, it was discovered they were members of the “Heaven’s Gate” cult. Their leader preached that suicide would allow them to leave their bodily containers and enter an alien spaceship - conveniently hidden behind a comet that passed near Earth at the time.

It might seem like a ridiculous belief to us, but the cult members were as convinced of it as they were that the sky is blue or water is wet.

Why were they so sure this spaceship existed?

Because their leader constantly told them stories about it. Over and over again, day after day, he preached about the alien angels who would soon pass by Earth and pick up true believers - taking their souls to a "level of existence above human".

And it worked because stories are the single best way to change someone’s beliefs.

Nobody likes being lectured to and told what to think. But we accept teachings much more easily when they're given to us through a story. Entertaining stories can sneak in under our conscious defences, and influence us often without us even realising it.

You might even say we’re “hardwired” to be persuaded by stories.

And there are countless examples of this. There are stories behind almost every major cultural and political movement you can think of.

Christianity? The Bible is mostly a series of stories. About Adam and Eve. About Noah and his Ark. About Moses. And about Jesus.

The invasion of Iraq? George W. Bush made up a story about Saddam having WMDs, and how he was planning to use them.

Black Lives Matter? They seized upon the story of George Floyd and ran with it all the way to the bank - while American cities burned.

And so on.

But what does this all mean for you and your pet business?

Well, instead of telling your email subscribers why they should want your product or service... Why not show them?

Why not use a story to build a vision in their mind of the problem they’re facing, and show how your business solves this problem for them?

For example:

If you sell dog training courses, telling people they should hire you to stop their dog from stealing food off the kitchen counter won’t do much.

Instead, try telling a real-life story about a woman who one day left a bunch of grapes on the counter... And later caught her dog halfway through eating them.

Talk about how she panicked, and had to take her poor dog to the vet - where his stomach was emptied, multiple (expensive) tests were done, and he was kept for several days under close medical observation.

A story like that will build vision, and bring the problem into sharp focus. The reader can imagine that happening to their dog.

And they’ll do anything to prevent it.

Though of course, unless the reader also believes in you and your ability to help them, they’re still not going to buy from you.

Which is why next week’s article is gonna be all about an easy way to rapidly build trust with your email subscribers.

Here’s where you can sign up so you don’t miss it: