I was traveling to a meeting, by car, on the (infamously long) I-80 in Pennsylvania.  I call it, “The road that never ended”.

We stopped for lunch at a quaint little restaurant in the middle of God-knows-where.

As we were paying our bill at the register I noticed a small display and a sign:  “Perfumed Horse Manure: $5 each”.  I was caught off-guard. I did NOT expect to see that.

I asked the lady at the register, “Is that REALLY what it says?”  “You betcha, Darling”  Now truly amused, I asked, “Do people really BUY that . . . and for $5?”  What she said next I’ve always remembered, “Honey, don’t you know that if you package it right, you can sell ________ to anyone!”  Wow.  Now THAT was a lesson I didn’t expect but I sure appreciated!

McDonalds sells a lot of Happy Meals™ because parents want “7 minutes to wolf down their food before their kids drag them outside to the playscape”.  Disney sells ‘Magical Vacations’ and Kodak sells cameras and media because families want to create timeless memories.

KEY POINT:
Whatever you’re selling, think about what you do FOR your client and PACKAGE the service elements needed to make that happen.