We want to make our clients three-dimensional. We want them to be people rather than a collection of demographic data.
The best way to give people that dimension is to be able to tell stories about them. And the best way to make those stories interesting and relatable is to include images.
Just like the video about the Grey Fox.
The video and photos make it easy to tell the story about the owner and the car. Telling the story is transformative. The car is no longer a 1968 Porsche 912. It’s a loved part of someone’s family.
It doesn’t matter that it has 90 HP and a modern Porsche has 400 (or 500). We’ve moved it outside the scope of something that is valued based on figures in KBB. We’ve elevated it to heirloom status.
(The Grey Fox sold for about $140,000–approximately three times KBB value.)
I think there are all sorts of parallels between the markets for luxury goods and the non-economic component of people’s lives.
There’s this species of Rolex (and probably other watches) with what’s called a “tropical” dial.
These watches have a story. They spent a lot of time in hot and humid climates. (They also had a manufacturing or design defect that resulted in discoloration.)
Because there’s an interesting story with these watches they’re worth a lot more than new versions of the same model.
Having a story—and telling it—has the same effect in personal injury cases. It’s a vehicle to capture the full value of the case.
That’s what I want to do with all cases. I want to tell their story so that the decision-makers at the insurance company are willing to pay fair value for the impact their insured’s negligence had on someone else. And if they won’t pay fair value, I want to make sure a jury will.