The time I used a Kit Kat to meet a millionaire on a train

How do you feel right now? Are you happy, sad or excited? My guess is that whatever you were feeling before was boredom and I’m about to tell you why.

This series of blog posts are about persuasion, but in exploring when to persuade someone, I realised the only time you can convert someone to do something is when they want to. Beyond that, it’s unethical manipulation to me.

So what I’m here today to talk to you about is the best time to capture someone’s attention, after that it’s up to you to use persuasion techniques to make sure they remember you if they have a problem you can solve. How am I going to do this? Well, I’ll start by telling you a story about the time I used a Kit Kat to meet a millionaire on a train.

What the hell happened on that train?

Picture this. It’s about lunchtime on a Monday and I’m on my way up North to go to a client site. I’m in first class… because it was declassified. I’m sat across from three men in suits who I blissfully ignore the existence of as I shovel food into my mouth with headphones in my ears.

Now switch scenes quickly. When I first moved into my flat about three months ago, one of my flatmates greeted me by handing me a kit kat. I don’t eat much candy, so it sat on top of my dresser for about a month. That morning I saw it on my dressers and decided for some reason I wanted to take it with me on the train. I feel like there was an angel singing in the background, but memories are easily manipulated so I can’t be sure.

Back to the train. At some point after my meal, I took my headphones out of my ears because my phone battery was draining, and began to take in the world around me.

Part way through my journey, a trolley cart came across the train loaded with snacks and sweets. He stopped in the middle of myself and the men and asked them if they wanted anything.

“Can I please have a Kit Kat” one of the men said.

I looked in front of me and saw my own Kit Kat, I was full after lunch and decided I wasn’t going to eat it. Also, it’d been a while since I came across three men in business suits and I thought it might make for an interesting conversation (I love talking to strangers). Upon these realisations, I said “Hey I’m not going to eat mine, you can have it.”