The YouBlog

What Story Are You Telling?

ONE FILM, THREE DIFFERENT STORIES. That was our experience today when the family & I went to see the new IMAX film, The Alps. According to the film’s notes, this is “a true-life story of extraordinary courage. It's the intensely personal journey of a man who has every reason not to climb the deadly Eiger North Face, yet climb it he must.”
        And it is a stunning film, on so many dimensions. What fascinated me afterward (besides recalling all the exceptional film work and touching story) was how differently we experienced the film. It takes place in Switzerland and my wife, who is Swiss, was enraptured by images of home. My kids were caught up in the story and images of the climbers facing this massive, dangerous challenge. As for me, I was gripped by the personal drama of this man who left his wife and 11-year old daughter at the base of the mountain as he faced the climb that had killed his father 40 years before.
        Same imagery, same narration, same editing and soundtrack and all — and three very different reactions. What each of us saw, however, was relevant to our personal viewpoints, expectations, and ideals.

Guess what . . .
The same thing happens every time you present, or make a sales pitch, or deliver an internal briefing. What you think you’re conveying may be very different from what your individual audience members or prospects may be receiving.
        How do you keep from getting wildly divergent reactions? Get their feedback. Don’t just barge through your presentation or pitch or ideas; instead, stop periodically and ask them how whatever vision you’re creating fits in with their needs or goals.
        (You were creating a vision, weren’t you? You weren’t just rattling off Features & Benefits or drilling through a lot of numbers or bullets or both, right? Right??)
        Another way to make sure they’re on the same proverbial page with you is to keep your core idea reeeeeeeally concise. Here’s a post on that.

Meanwhile, if you have a chance, don’t miss this film. Here is where The Alps is playing, as of March '08.

How NOT to Write a Value Proposition

IT’S “READER BEWARE” OUT THERE ON THE WILD WILD WEB, particularly when it comes to advice on crafting a strong Value Proposition. I’m sure whoever wrote the Wikipedia entry on “Customer Value Proposition” meant well — but their advice is waaaaay off base. Yikes! If you follow their prescription, you could make it harder for someone to choose you, not easier. And you’ll certainly be a LOT less memorable with their formula.
        Don’t believe me? Check this out:

“A value-proposition should contain at least five elements:
1. current situation (including problems, causes, and effects)
2. target situation
3. when to reach the target situation
4. cost of reaching the target situation
5. the benefits of both the targeting and the achievement phases"

At least five elements?! Do you think your prospects or audience or readers are even going to remember one with all that stuff dumped on them? Not a chance.
        And all those detail points sound like parts of a proposal or a B-school treatise, not a concise description of what the buyer can achieve.
        Ultimately, a Value Proposition comes down to why your audience or prospects or readers should care about what you have to offer — and this Wikipedia entry (which is the first thing that shows up when someone Googles “value proposition”) doesn’t get anywhere near that concept.
        The “value” in Value Proposition needs to be what THEY (prospects, audience, readers) see as valuable, not what you want to achieve. So any statement that focuses on your agenda, or your products or services, is NOT a value proposition, no matter how loudly you proclaim it to be so — nor how resolutely a Wikipedia entry describes it. It’s not your value proposition, it’s theirs.

For more on this topic, check out “How Good Is Your Value Proposition?”

It’s Rough, But It Works

IT WASN’T A LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE, but I got a wonderful glimpse of the future this weekend, courtesy of my friend, Laura Fitton (in the picture at left), and the folks at Startup Weekend2 here in Boulder. The picture above is a screen grab from a session they ran, where Laura hosted various entrepreneurs-to-be making pitches to Guy Kawasaki (above, at right) and others.
        The intriguing thing was that the startup experts weren’t in Boulder, they were patched in via simple video feeds. And people could send comments or questions that were displayed below the video images. You can see these episodes here.
        There’s a great object lesson for all business communications in what you see in these clips. These aren’t polished, professionally-produced efforts — but they are immediate and authentic and very compelling. That’s what Laura was going for, and she nailed it.
        Authentic trumps Polished any day. This is true whether you’re working on a presentation for a large crowd or trying to make a pitch to your boss for more help. Getting to the point of what really matters is far more important, and more compelling, than having a perfectly choreographed speech.
        Keep your eye on Laura’s Mediacasters site. It’ll be fun to see what she comes up with.

Are You Predictable?

WOULDN’T YOU AGREE: “Predictable” = “Boring”? And to extend this: “Predictable” = “Invisible”. We certainly know it when we see it, and we tend to tune out quickly when encounter things that are predictable-boring-irrelevant-et al.
        Case in point: When you get a telemarketing call, how often do you listen to the whole message? And if you do listen to the whole thing, are you ever surprised? Probably not.
        Same thing happens with the majority of presentations, B2B cold calls, prospecting emails, PR releases, and so on. Most are so formulaic as to be invisible. And if you are following a formula, you’re definitely weakening your chances.
        Imagine this: A vendor comes to meet with you and they open up a laptop. What’s going to happen next? They’re probably going to open up a presentation. And then do. So what’s coming next? Right — a Title slide? And next? Yep, an Agenda slide. And at this point, you probably want to run out screaming, “Noooooo!” (because you know how deadly boring this is likely to be).
        Same thing happens with prospecting calls, voice mails, and emails, except that the receiver now has a delete key to quickly lessen their pain.

So . . .
Why do people persist in being Predictable? Because it’s easier. Because they’ve never tried a different approach. Or because someone above them has insisted that “This is the way we do it here.”
        The problem is that your rationale is irrelevant to those you want to influence.
        To break out of the trench of Predictability, you need to think about what really matters to the people you want to influence, then think about how to most effectively show them that you have an answer for their needs.
        Chances are you don’t need PowerPoint to do this. You can probably create an incredibly potent picture just with words. Same goes for cold calls and emails.
        And if you really do need slideware, you certainly don’t need a title slide. Instead, start off with an image that captures what you really want to express, and you’ll definitely break out of the mold of “Predictable”.

For another view on this same idea, check out Seth Godin’s latest post: “Why bother having a resume?” He makes a really good case for not following the norm.

Related posts:
  · Typecasting
  · Are You Easy to Ignore?

Puncturing Persuasion

SETH GODIN TAKES ON CIALDINI and all scientific marketers in a thought-provoking post: “How do I persuade you?” He effectively questions whether there’s anything a marketer or sales executive can do to consistently influence others. And without directly calling out Robert Cialdini and his six Principles of Persuasion, Seth makes a case for not relying on any one set of tactics for all your customers, clients, or prospects.
        Okay.
        Now what?

The punchline is that we need to listen to those we hope to influence, and then adapt our approach accordingly. We can still use Cialdini’s six principles, but only as appropriate to a given situation (and never all six at once).
        I realize this is a lot easier in 1:1 or small group situations. Ask questions and follow the path their answers reveal. This does takes extra effort, and you have to be comfortable with sharing control, but it’s tremendously more effective than how most people communicate (which is just to talk all about “Me”)
        And the effort is even more complex when you’re trying to reach masses, which is why so many marketers fall back on tricks or “sure-fire” tactics. (I still shudder at the money my old company spent trying to decide which had a better response rate, blue ink or green ink.)
        But even this starts at the same place: ask what matters and listen to what they say. Don’t try to validate your biases or expectations, be open to what’s in their heads and in their hearts. Then respond appropriately.
        And if you think this won’t work in marketing to the masses, maybe you shouldn’t be marketing to the masses . . .