Hopefully I didn't scare you off too much last week with my demand that you need to be entertaining to keep the attention of your potential clients.

It really is simpler than you might think. Here's one easy way to do it…

Tell them about your failures.

It's the power of schadenfreude – our innate interest in the misfortune of others.

Most of the business emails I get from people trying to position themselves as experts just catalogue their amazing successes. Winning this, crushing that.

Yawn.

No one is interested in someone who succeeds at everything. And mostly we don't believe it either.

How successful would the Avengers series of films have been if they just coasted through them easily defeating all their enemies without breaking a sweat?

Not very.

We have to see our heroes in peril – even though we know inside that they're going to pull through in the end.

So if you talk about some of the mistakes you've made…

…genuine mistakes – not the fake “I work too hard” or “I care too much” nonsense. But real screw ups.

And what you learned from them of course.

That way the story arc plays out pleasingly. You're in trouble, you figure things out, they learn from your experience.

Some of the most popular emails I've ever written follow the simple formula of “My worst X ever”.

My WORST sales meeting ever.

My worst performing email EVER.

(OK, I varied things a bit with the capitalisation :) )

Try it!

One caveat though. Make sure you've established your credibility before you start talking about your previous failures.

Someone you know to be a success who is open about their failures seems more human.

Someone who's an unknown who starts off talking about their failures comes off as a bit of a loser.

Be the former rather than the latter :)