The song alone is good. The set-up, the context is extraordinary. #beststorywins indeed

So how many marketing people are strong enough story tellers to earn a place here?

 

We help people Win Work in B2B. Some might say this is all about consumer marketing. Really?

 

What might it look like if you garnered 5,000 B2B subscribers to a high value YouTube channel. Then built out your relationships and networking - and earned the right to help people based on that value-added to them?

 

Digital word-of-mouth? Priceless...

What would happen if you gave this exercise to the people on your team you rely on to tell your company story?

 

How much is your ability to win work being held back by stumbling at the core of engaging customers, creating an initial emotional reaction/interaction between them and your company?

 

Is there enough understanding of and effort put into identifying the issues your customers have, that your stories of solving this for others could do for you?

The flurry of storytelling articles often miss this crucial point - stories only work, if they have context - for the listener.

 

How do you get context for, from, and about the listener? Listen!

 

Ask questions, get context - then your stories can actually be of benefit - to the listener, and you...

Here's a real time saver, if, like me, you spend time leading large groups on complex ideas.

 

Many of us use Post-it notes for personal use. But it gets tricky when you use them in strategy sessions, brain-storming, problem solving, ideation, workflow, story mapping.  Sure you can photograph and share them, but this new (FREE) app lets you do so much more.

 

Highly recommended!

Compassion - is it just hearing (really hearing) someone elses story?

 

Active listening is actually really hard work. What's active listening?

Well, it's the opposite of what most people do. For most people listening is that act of waiting until the other party stops talking so they can say what they been wanting to all along.

 

Net result, especially if that is also what the other party is doing? It's not a conversation. No information is actually being exchanged. To an observer, the two sides of the exchange, the two 'channels' appear totally disconnected.

 

And in asking both parties what they heard, what they felt, what they learned, the answer would probably be 'not much' or 'they sure don't listen'

 

So I love this article (there's that L word again) for what it will hopefully encourage - any improvement in the quality of listening, and the art of asking great questions.

 

As a tip - try waving in the suggested 6 questions over the course of your early time with anyone new. Not for any particular purpose or effect. Just because you really, truly want to listen, to really know something about someone else.

 

Is advertising dead? As a media rep or sales company, are you ready to be cut out of the loop?  At IBM we ran sessions for customers on how this new thing called the internet was going to 'dis-inter-mediate' industry and public service value chains. By radically changing old, industrial functional &  information asymmetry. I facilitated 'leap-frog' sessions for Governments in emerging markets about being able to avoid an entire generation of public services infrastructure by going digital. Ironically, IBM itself has been gutted by their blindness to the speed of this change in their own industry. Who would of thought the 'cloud' would see IBM out of hardware entirely? And now, in this article, the 'new-media' giants of FaceBook and Google are gently 'partnering’ (being disembowelled?) with the old-media giants. Giants who have lost the eyeballs of the world by thinking they were in the newspaper or TV business, not the news business (or the 'giving people what they want where and when they want it’ business) Interestingly, I suspect even these two new titans will fall prey to the same forces themselves. I work in Business To Business (B2B) marketplace, I've little interest in consumer advertising and marketing - except where these industries collide and their sales teams have to generate revenue in these changing times.  So my advice to the leaders of our B2B clients is to stay alert and nimble. And if you have a choice, always be looking for ways to put you current revenue streams, even your sacred cash cows, under threat with new ideas yourself. Because if you do not, you can bet someone else will. Or already is. Even Google and FaceBook reps. Don't laugh - but our kids and grandkids may yet say "what's Facebook?" Why?  Because their advertising revenue streams might over time become fragmented and less relevant.  When you can get all the data, commentary and insight you already need on your phone, how incredibly targeted, relevant and value-add will advertising need to be to evoke a response from you?

Seriously, who will tolerate increasing ads on their mobile? As the ads rise, people will migrate to the next ad-free media. Facebook gets too creepy, head to SnapChat or Tumblr...

 

 

 

 

Storytelling about Telling Stories - always a bit self referential!

One business selling to another business, or organisation usually gets lost in the facts and figures. The feeds and speeds...

 

I agree with Tham that the deepest level of persuasion begins with emotions, and that even a cement pump sale has some heart in it.

 

So we can all agree consumer advertising, Not-For-Profit fund raising, and yes, politicians (shudder) know this and use this principle.

 

And that for most a great place to start this emotional journey with customers is by telling a story.

 

But how many B2B product people, marketing people, sales people, technicians, project managers have ever made the connection and used these ideas.

 

What's happening in your business with these ideas?

Jargon kills clarity & credibility - the opposite why most use it.

 

Why do we change 'voice' from email to proposal?

 

As Baden Eunson from Monash highlights, less confident or experienced people often use 'insider' language to feel better about their knowledge & status.

 

A practical working relationship via email can become stiff and strange when jargon is used in proposals - diminishing the relationship and clarity.

 

The Shipley Associates Proposal Guide Version 4.0 has a great section with tips on how to avoid or minimise jargon - worth reading 

 

http://j.mp/Shipley_Guide

Bad news stories in the wrong context can be unhelpful. Good news stories in the wrong context can be ineffective.

 

I stopped watching the evening television news decades ago.

I immediately felt better. 

 

The relentless barrage of crises, wars, insurrections, rip-offs, government waste, robber baron selfishness - with an occasional rescued kitten towards the end - was getting to me.

 

Likewise, many marketers believe their job to is avoid frightening prospects with any mention of bad news, or pain. And instead focus on the happy outcomes from buying their products or services. 

 

Trouble is, this can miss a critical stage in influence, persuasion, and action - the understanding and belief that change is necessary at all.

Alas, conventional 'sunshine & lollipops' stories about how good it will be don't create buying behaviours. 

 

Unless you have fluked being seen or heard by someone on the day they decided they needed a solution to the problem you solve.

 

So if you didn't help them realise they had a problem, and that it would be beneficial and possible to solve it, who else did? 

 

And what about all the people who do have the problem you solve, but will never buy from you telling them 'it will all be better after you spend money with us'. I am unlikely to care if I do not feel the need for changing my status-quo.

 

So 'bad-news' can have a useful context. My Facebook feed is full of social justice causes with plenty of shocking and depressing stories. And the combination of these, PLUS the belief that action can make a difference (but not that alone) has triggered me to act.

 

I've joined a political party, started online petitions, and am lending my professional skills to social causes I believe in.

 

So how good is your understanding of your prospects' awareness of their situation?  Do you see pain they have that they do not? How clear are you about the type of stories, messages, content and Capture process needed to trigger buyer behaviour?

 

How much time, and money, does your marketing waste by being 'sunshine & lollipops' stories to people who don't feel they have this problem you are so proud of being able to solve?

 

Bad news stories in the wrong context can be unhelpful. Good news stories in the wrong context can be ineffective. Know the difference, and why...

 

How did "Don't Rush!" end up on a list of 10 Way To Make The Most Of Your Career In Your 20s? 

 

Because, like carpenters, you need to measure twice, cut once. Planning grasshopper, Planning.

 

I recommend this list to colleagues with children now hitting or about to hit the workforce, and the early stage career people who have LinkedUp with me.

 

BTW - there are some great career ideas for those already further into their careers as well.

 

Let me know what works for you!

A storyteller on storytelling by a global brand about storytelling for mid-market companies?

 

Most mid-market companies are pretty good at what they do. But #winningwork is often not a core strength. Yet #winningwork is vital to survival. 

 

Here's a solid summary of key reasons for mid-market firms to look at  video storytelling to better engage clients and prospects to win more work. And the hook is that it's sponsored by IBM, where I first learned about the power of video as a product manager supporting sales teams many years ago.

 

Video was great when it was tapes & DVDs, but is truly awesome today with the ease, access and power of social & digital connectivity.

 

Check out some of the evidence supporting the value of video in #winningwork - and stay tuned for more stories on how to get started.