Attention Pie (Therefore or But)
There’s a pizza shop on the way to our OBGYN — a place I’ve visited a lot lately — that is endlessly frustrating to me.
It’s called John’s Pizza, and while the name implies it’s a pizza shop, the massive advertising on the window disagrees. Or, really, it expands. It reads: “John’s Pizza: Pizza, Wedges, Pasta, Gyros, Salads, and More.”
Our old friend Joey Cofone talks a lot about what he calls the Attention Pie — a visual representation of what you’re throwing at your customer and hoping they digest in the 3–5 seconds of focus they'll give you (8.25 if they’re really interested).
Here’s the Attention Pie for John’s Pizza when someone walks by their storefront:
Each slice in an attention pie dilutes the rest, especially when the slices don’t build on each other. So, “Gyros” and “More” pull attention from pizza, wedges, pasta, and salad — which are already diluting each other. This might not seem like a huge deal, but it is.
As we bumble through life, our subconscious is tasked with answering one question thousands of times a day: “Do I need to pay attention to this?” The default answer has to be “no,” or we’d never make it out the front door. So, everyone's subconscious is always searching **for an excuse to ignore something — diluted messaging delivers it.
The Power of “Therefore” and “But”
Here's the best piece of writing advice I’ve ever received: If you find yourself writing “and then,” your story stinks. The only words that should connect two thoughts in a story together are “therefore” and “but.”
“We went to the park, and then we ate lunch, and then it started raining” is boring.
“We went to the park just when the wind picked up, and it started to pour, but we were so hungry that we took cover under an old, creaky oak tree to eat our lunch anyway” is semi-interesting. It creates and holds tension for the reader.
The business version of this is using “and” in your Attention Pie. “We do this and this and this” — with no central theme.
The Insecure Founder’s Trap
This is classic “insecure founder” behavior. You’re worried that if you don’t say everything you could possibly do for each theoretical customer someone might slip through the cracks who would’ve paid you money. And maybe that customer was the key to figuring out your startup.
So, John leaves “gyros” in, and you mention on your site that while you mostly sell to B2B customers, B2C customers can buy, too, because one time someone asked John for a gyro, and during one customer interview someone told you, "Heck, I'd use that! You don't only need to sell to businesses!” And now John has unwittingly diluted his pizza for everyone who walks by, and you've diluted your B2B pitch for all serious business customers, and you've each done it under the guise of "I'm letting my customers tell me what they want!"
Curate, Don’t Clutter
Entrepreneurs are museum curators. We’ve got a basement full of paintings —potential customers and all the ways we could help them — but only one slot on the wall. We need to choose who it's for. In fact, that's the entire job of an entrepreneur — choosing. Choosing creates tension. It forces the right people to pay attention and doesn't allow their subconscious to ignore us. Not choosing lets all the slack out of the rope. It forces people to ignore us.
Your messaging shouldn't be an open invitation — it should be a velvet rope (with clear rules about who will be let in). Maybe John’s offers both pizza and gyros because the owners are Italian and Greek, and both the pizza and the gyros are fantastic. Great! Then put this on the window: “We have Pizza and we have Gyros because that’s what happens when an Italian and a Greek open a restaurant.” This is “therefore” messaging. Italian and Greek, therefore...
The best part of “therefore” and “but” marketing is how well it travels. It's easy to remember and obvious who it's for — the perfect recipe for sharing. “It’s a pizza shop that also has a bunch of other stuff” is not memorable or interesting to share.
“It’s a pizza shop with gyros and pizza because the owners are Italian and Greek” is memorable and fun to share. So, it'll grow. Fewer slices. More punch. No gyros.
Your Turn
Two questions to end with:
How can you define your current attention pie? What are all the things you’re throwing at your customer?
How can you create a velvet rope? What slices of your pie could you remove to amplify the rest?