The Old Artist and His USP

Most of my reader’s don’t know this, but long before I became a writer, I made my living fixing old copiers and printers. Did I say old? I mean ooold. Some of these things still had the glass that moved back and forth as it scanned the original. The reason their owners had stuck with them, was because they were made for wide format. These monsters would copy an 18 x 48 inch poster.

Working on this stuff helped me meet a lot of interesting characters. And the one I want to tell you about was an old man who made his living at flea-markets on the outskirts of Cincinnati. His normal gig was drawing cartoon portraits…he would draw a caricature in two minutes, and charge something like ten bucks. Do the math. On a good day he made a bundle.

He would also draw a more realistic portrait in about ten minutes. I don’t remember how much he charged, but I remember it was considerably more than the cartoons. And if people really wanted to get a good gift, he would blow up a picture of someone, and then draw it. So that’s where the old machine came into play.

He had his machine set up in one of those ‘inside’ booths. I’d go out once a month to clean it up and make sure it wouldn’t break down on him. Over the years, we got to talking about all the stuff that you talk about to ‘flea-market folk’. If you don’t know what I mean, then you probably never will. The main point is that we talked. I spoke to him, he heard me, he spoke back, and I heard him.

This is all relevant because my wife and a few siblings went to that very flea-market about two weeks after I had found employment with another company. They just happened to stop by and have their faces drawn. When they described him to me, I knew exactly who he was (he had a scar over his right cheek).

I was a little stumped by how excited they were over their new caricatures. They weren’t all that great. As a matter of fact, I thought they sucked. But my wife proudly hung hers in the hallway, and told me all about the deaf guy who drew it.

“Deaf guy???” I said. “He’s not deaf.”

“Well his assistant said he was. And he couldn’t talk. He just made deaf people noises and pointed to things.”

This all happened before I became a copywriter. Before I understood marketing. And I had no idea why anyone would pretend to be deaf. But in retrospect, I can see that his customers were delighted by the mere fact that he couldn’t hear. What a USP.

Here’s a mediocre artist, at best, making a killing. The way my brother talked, people were waiting in line for forty minutes just to sit and model for him. All because of this little gimmick. Why did it work for him? I don’t think it had anything to do with pity. It was more fascination. But no matter why it worked, it’s a good lesson for all of us.

Now I’m definitely not telling you that it’s ok to fake a handicap for a little extra money. But I will say that if you have anything that will make you more memorable to your customers, then use it. When you give them a product or service, give them a story to go with it. Give them something to pass on to all their coworkers and friends.

This is viral marketing at its best. And it will bring the customers in like fish caught in a net. The alternative…one by one with night crawlers and a hook.