Before the advent of pencil and paper and writing, ancient
peoples depended solely upon storytelling to pass along the
history of their families and tribes from one generation to
the next. Of course, it was an imperfect method, as we
humans tend to skew a story from our own perspective and
add details and nuances that weren't present in the
original story. However imperfect or exaggerated or simply
untrue the stories might be, we all live in countries
where stories shape our history. Here in the U.S., we were
all regaled as children with stories of Paul Revere's ride
through Boston alerting the residents of the coming of the
British, or if you were a Texas kid, of the defeat of Santa
Ana in San Jacinto after the tragic loss of life to the
Mexican army at the Alamo.
I've always reveled in stories. One of my favorite
pastimes as a child was to hang out with my mom and aunts
for the "adult conversations" that weren't really suitable
for children's ears. However, I refused to leave no matter
how strongly I was encouraged to go and play outside. I
just wanted to hear the stories of the "good ole" days"
(i.e. back in the olden days, as I gleefully referred to
those times) when they were growing up or when things were
different. Hearing stories about them in different
contexts than how I knew them shaped both my personal
history and my family history and connected me to them in
ways that I still value to this day. Of course, I l also
overheard much family gossip, but that, then is another
story.
You can create the same kind of connection to your customer
base by telling your story or the story of a successful
client. Stories help people create visual images of what
you're trying to get across. I'm apt to remember the story
and the image it created much more easily than a bunch of
facts or theories or statistics that just make my eyes
glaze over. When I was a contractual trainer for a virtual
assistant training company, I often told stories to
illustrate the points of a particular class. About a year
after one student completed this program, she told me that
she often thought of the story I told of how I successfully
set boundaries with my "doubting mother" in the startup
phase of my business. My student was struggling with the
same issues of doubt in her family as she started her
business and used my story as a guide for her to set
boundaries with them to keep herself sane during this very
crazy period of her life. You simply never know how
powerfully your story will impact others.
In the teleclasses and coaching that I do, I often tell my
story of the scary and stupid way I started my business --
a way that defied all professional advice and a way that I
wouldn't recommend to any of my clients -- but I succeeded
despite myself. I had quit my full-time job without any
savings, filed for divorce, put my house up for sale, sold
my major possessions, loaded the car up with my dog and
relocated halfway across the country, moved in with my
mother back into my childhood bedroom, withdrew money from
my retirement account to get me through the first few
months, and set up shop in my mother's garage. I was just a
failure waiting to happen, but I didn't fail, amazingly
enough. I use this story to illustrate the point that no
matter what the odds, if you want to start a business and
be successful, you can do it --and I'm living proof that
anyone can do it -- and if you don't have all of these risk
factors staring you in the face, you stand a much greater
chance of success than I ever did!
Share all of your stories with your clients--the good, the
bad, and the ugly. It will make you much more human and
much more approachable with your clients. A coach with whom
I have done some training, Chris Barrow, shares the story
of his devastating bankruptcy when he was thought of as one
of the most successful financial planners in the UK. I
admire Chris for sharing the failures in his life and
business as well as his successes--it lets me know that
he's human and he can easily relate to whatever I'm going
through at any moment in time.
Come up with a fairly short, 1-2 minute story statement of
how you got to where you are today and how that impacted
why you do what you do. Make it interesting, share the ups
and downs and put your stories on your website, on your
business card, in your brochure, on your blog, and
incorporate them into your elevator speech. I guarantee
you'll start developing fans right away!
----------------------------------------------------
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business
Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals
learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their
expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To
claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing
Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask
Donna an Internet Marketing question at
http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com .
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