I was watching the Opening Ceremonies to the Winter Olympics last Friday night and even before the ceremonies actually started – I knew quite a bit about the competitors in many of the events. I realized that until about 2 weeks ago, or even a few days ago – I didn’t know anything about ANY of the competitors. How did I learn so much information so quickly? I certainly didn’t sit down and do any studying. I definitely didn’t seek out the information.
NBC got me interested enough to watch the stories they told about each competitor. That’s how.
1. It’s about the stories.
Sure NBC can report what happened. They can tell you who won, they can tell you who lost – but they also tell you how it all went down. They give you background information. They’ll tell you about the competitors and show you what that person has gone through to be here. And what it means for that person not only to possibly win – but what it means that they’re even there competing. The road isn’t easy for anyone getting to the Olympics. You don’t get to be one of the top 10 athletes in your sport just by carrying a big bag of easy. It takes work. A lot of work – too much work for most people AND THEN it also takes some luck. And a bigger bag of stubbornness. All of that.
But that’s what we want. Sure on some level we want to know who won. But even more so we want to know about the people who won.
Who are they? What have they gone through? Are they special? Are they good people or are they f*cken assholes?
NBC (and really any network covering the Olympics) aren’t just telling you who won. They’re telling you as many stories as possible about the people competing because they know that’s how they’ll hook you.That’s how they’ll get you to follow and watch a competitor from the preliminary rounds all the way to the finals – and hopefully see all of the advertising they show along the way.
How much story telling do you do in your business? Do you ‘just take photos’? Or do you tell your clients a story about how their experience with you will be? Not just giving them a chart with the Pros & Cons of hiring you. Telling them a story that makes them feel good about hiring you. Telling stories is the quickest way to get past intellectually selling to someone and finally emotionally selling to someone. Below is directly from our own ‘Wedding‘ page. We don’t talk about why you should hire us. We don’t tell people that we’re the best, or cheapest, or anything. We tell them a story – about them. And we ALL like stories about ourselves.
In a few years after your wedding has long passed, you and your spouse will sit down on a Sunday afternoon and pull out the box of photos from that day and remember everything. You’ll remember how you were calm and didn’t feel nervous until you finished getting dressed and saw yourself in the mirror. Or how your mother started to tear up, trying her best not to cry and ruin her makeup – because it finally hit her that you’re really getting married. You’ll see the photos of your closest friends all dressed up – because they clean up well – and that feeling of being surrounded by the people most important in your life – all there for your wedding day.
What does your investment/prices/weddings page say? Do you just present options and packages? Did you only talk about yourself? Are you selling yourself? Maybe try telling your clients a story they actually want to hear.
What about during your client meetings? When you sit down at the table with a wedding couple – after gathering all of the information you need – do you only tell them about how awesome you are? Do you only tell them how good your gear is, or how cheap you are, or what you will do for them? OR do you help them imagine and visualize how great their wedding will be…
Questions? Need more information? Ask in the comments section below. Thanks.