Discover “The MacGuffin” In Your Business
By Alex Mandossian on January 2, 2008
Click the arrow to listen to Alex’s personal message.
If you want to inspire your prospects and customers to reach their goals and dreams faster, start developing a “MacGuffin” for your business.
Most entrepreneurs ignore the theatrical plot devices that film makers utilize to suspend their audience’s attention.
Entrepreneurs can create more suspense and intrigue (and less boredom) with their customers utilizing “The MacGuffin.”
Resource: www.MacGuffinExplained.com
Glossary: “The MacGuffin” is the key driving force and the central object every character is concerned with in an action-thriller plot.
Wonderful that you are tying the drama of theater to business. Most people think of business is repetitious labor rather than lively and dramatic performance! Of course in business, it’s best when that drama is real - like what you set up for Teleseminar Secrets each year.
We have wonderful, real-life spiritual drama unfolding for our first ever conference for the Soft Sell community - “Bridging Heart and Marketing.” It’s the best MacGuffin ever for us!
Judith Sherven
http://www.judithandjim.com/blog
Dear Alex,
Thank you for this tip. My wheels are turning! The McGuffin for our WTPowers Members is to grow their business faster with online marketing, thus making more money with less effort. I’m inspired to create a contest to motivate members to define “faster” into tangible terms and to be competitive with themselves to bust through their self-imposed limitations. My mission is help to create more success stories for network marketers in 2008 than ever before!
Thanks for all you do!
~ Power Gal :-)
PS Loving TSS!
The “MacGuffin” for my business is the excitement my students express when they write their first ebook. That is the rewarding part of my mentoring them through the process.
Alex, your MacGuffin for this blog post was the idea of “MacGuffin” itself. It’s the point of intrigue and interest through the movie plots, sports and business references, and then into your parnership evolution model where its specific use in this post is revealed. Totallyu delightful and practical to boot. Bravo!
Because It’s All in the Connection,
Jim Sniechowski
http://www.bridgingheartandmarketing.com/blog
Good article and easy to understand. I now know why finding a MacGuffin for my own products and teleseminars could help. Food for thought as what mine could be.
Another step in using the MacGuffin is to apply it to your blog in general and your posts in particular. If you ask yourself why anyone would want to visit your blog or read your posts and what MacGuffin you can use to make that happen, your blog and blogging will be that much better for it.
Thanks for this example, Alex. It’s something we can all use in almost any phase of our business.
Alex,
How is this as a MacGuffin?
http://TeleSeminarSecretsImplementation.com
As a direct result of TSS, I set up my first ever blog about 3 weeks ago (t’was totally stupid that I hadn′t ever “gotten around to it” before now even though it′s been on the “To Do List” for years).
The above is a forwarded link of a new domain (TSS idea) to a category on the new blog (TSS idea) dedicated to my experiences and review of TSS. The last posting on the blog was done especially for the benefit of all the other TSS students so they could see my real life implementation trials and tribulationsand successesthat I′m having as a result of implementing some of your teachings.
The intent of the above link is to give LOTS of meaningful content that will be genuinely helpfulit also includes a tagged posting that is a link, and an audio message, to one of my Ask pages that is another example of an implemented TSS idea.
However, I fully expect, as the other members begin their own implementation and gain their own experiences, the value of the above link will likely dissipate in true MacGuffin style. (At least until the NEXT sequel in the TS series starts!)
Hopefully, what will remain, after the MacGuffin is forgotten, is the value of the rest of my blog to many of your students – especially since so many of them are just starting their own business:
http://ShouldYouStartACompany.com
Hopefully, and even more importantly, they will be motivated to review the free 114 questions I ask my clients in my Start Up Company Workshop - http://StartUpCompanyWorkshop.com with audio - and they will see and hear the benefits of them opting in - so they can attend my upcoming free teleseminar on “Are You REALLY Ready to Start Your Own Company?”
MacGuffinly Yours,
Robert Goodman, MBA
Ceo & Chief Dragon Slayer
http://ChiefDragonSlayer.com (with audio)
http://StartUpCompanyQuestions.com (with audio)
http://StartUpCompanyWorkshop.com (with audio)
http://TeleSeminarSecretsImplementation.com
Actually Alex, I never thought of the MacGuffin at all but now see it used in many areas as well as in my line of expertise…..I just never had a name for it. When I teach my art classes I provide people a safe environment in which to experiment, fail and grow. It is such fun to watch those who are sure they can’t possibly paint or be creative be successful. Their shoulders are held higher, their voice sounds more sure and their eyes have a spark that wasn’t there upon entering the class.
They come for this MacGuffin.
Greetings to you Alex, this plan or blueprint for “The MacGuffin” is just genius, sheer genius. I am motivated to use it for my business. I am in the “infancy stage” (I just love the similitude) of my bread business. But what really intrigued me was the noted personalities that you quoted from. Hitchcock, Lucas, Curtis. I never thought about what the plot was after the first scene because of the action that was taking place on the screen. You have picked a very good subject to motivate the people. I for one will try to put it to good use. Thank You Alex.
In the martial arts business, we use the MacGuffin regularly so our clients don’t get bored with their training.
What we have also learned is “What was once new, is now expected” so we have to continually be creating new things so that we do not become ordinary.
Alex,
Another time-tested technique and example of your lucid transparency…thanks for sharing…for me, your transparency is the MacGuffin, I never know what you’ll reveal next!
Thanks and I’m always so sparked when I get off the calls…
Rebecca
http://www.LifecoachingInnerPrizes.com
Interesting and fun and useful to know about this.
thanks Alex,
Julie
Alex:
Fantastic advice. I’m a doctor and a filmmaker/writer, but I have kept the MacGuffin out of my medicine. My films are fun. My life as a doctor is ….So boring. Safe. I now have theatre and medicine. Science and art. I’ll start to take the big risks in health care marketing to get the dramatic results in healing and more patients. I already have the goods with TSS. Thanks again.
ShelbyLane, MD
I think this is a great idea, Alex. Thanks for sharing. My business is working with people who have chronic emotional and physical pain. My idea of a Macguffin to motivate them (at least at the moment) is the intrigue of wondering what that “tipping point” is that will help them shift into a place of less pain and more pleasure in their lives. Later this week I’ll be launching my new interactive website http://www.reversingchronicpain.com. Come visit!
Maggie
Alex,
R2D2 was my favorite as a kid. I remember being 7 or 8 when watching R2D2 was like watching Lassie in a Lassie movie, or Benji for that matter. Wonder what it was in Bambi? How about a Godzilla movie?
In Star Wars, as long as MacGuffin R2D2 was okay, I knew everything was going to be okay.
Being born in 1969, I feel like my Love Child nature needs to know there is an ending that I can stand.
The MacGuffin seems to be something I can focus on looking for when everything else is hard to take. Nothing like a “focus” to keep my left frontal lobe at peace.
Thank you for being you and insisting we start discussing this stuff in front of each other. Kudos to you, Alex! Love ya!
Shannon Seek
This is an information that is obviously of great value. I totally
agree with your statements.Thanks for sharing it!
hello alex,
thanks a lot for this mcguffin thing – its very inspiring.
you really walk what you talk.
peter