This is the blueprint of most presentations, reports, pitches, websites, you name it.
Everything’s important. And therefore, nothing is important.
The thing is this: If you don’t pick what’s important you’re asking your audience to do it for you.
You might not be too happy with their choice.
Better to find the courage to do it yourself.
One of the simplest ways to improve in a skill is to become more specific about the things we like.
Let’s say you want to improve in public speaking. Certainly, there are a bunch of speeches that you love. Pick one and find three things that you like.
Be as specific as you can be. What is it specifically that you like? Why does it work? How does it work? How does it compare to how you would handle it?
Give the things that you notice names so that you can refer back to them and spot them in other speeches.
And then, when you prepare your next speech apply what you’ve learnt.
(Of course, the same process works for almost any skill. Whether it’s writing or graphic design. Cooking or crafting. Sports or music. Being able to describe the things we like makes it much easier to apply it to our own work.)
Most stories can be told in a couple of minutes, sometimes less.
Good stories resonate way longer. Great ones even for years and decades.
Most stories of the latter kind are not told on a cinema screen but by people we interact with personally.
It’s not the big budget of Hollywood that makes for a great story but the relevance of it being the right story in the right moment.
Clarity is much more revelation work than it is creative work.
When we encounter one of these charismatic leaders who seem to just magically nail it and find words that make the complex feel simple, it can feel like they are just natural born talents.
I don’t think that’s true in most cases. More often than not, they are just much more rigorous in their thinking. They:
I built “Crack the Clarity Code” to walk you through this process and find that rigor in your thinking. My goal is to take you from a gut feeling of possibility to razor-sharp clarity.
It seems to work. Even after day 1, I got this note from Bob: “The clarity is already coming.”
Find out more at https://crack-the-clarity-code.com.
All successful marketing basically works the same.
It makes customers see a brighter future and leads them to the point of no return, a point where it becomes an unbearable thought for them to go back to normal so that the only possible resolution is to buy your product.
Successful marketing makes the customer want that brighter future.
The problem is: Sneaky marketers know that, too. Actually, they know it particularly well. All of the sneaky marketing schemes out there are built on that principle. Sneaky marketers are masterful at figuring out what customers desire and then making bold promises around these desires – without caring about whether they can keep these promises.
The challenge for honest marketers is that they do care for keeping their promises.
The challenge for the customer is to notice the difference: Does the marketer (only) care for their money or do they actually care for delivering on the promise?
If you’re an honest marketer, the lesson here is to understand these principles of successful marketing … and master them even better than the sneaky marketer. Here are three questions that might help you:
A great product solves a problem, resolves a struggle, or fulfills a desire.
It tastes delicious without me having to cook. It sounds awesome while being affordable. It’s efficient, sustainable, stylish. It gives me a feeling of mastery or pure joy. Or whatever it is for your product.
Great products transform me into a better person. One who eats healthier, takes better photos, works with more focus, or makes better decisions.
Essentially, it gets me from point A where I still have that struggle to point B where my struggle is resolved.
It’s that transformation that great marketing stories capture. They give us the feeling of being seen with our struggle and they light us the path to a better future where that struggle is resolved.
Marketing stories work when the struggle is real and the path to the future is accessible.
They keep working when the product delivers on the promise.
Usually, it’s a lot easier to grasp the cost of an action than that of inaction.
It costs $X to service your car. But what does it cost to not have it serviced?
It costs $X to buy that book and Y hours to read it. But what does it cost to not know what you’ve learnt from reading it?
It costs $X, a phone call, and one evening of your time to invite a friend you haven’t met in a long time for dinner in that new restaurant. But what does it cost to not spend the evening with them?
It costs $X to book a coaching session plus an hour of preparation, three hours to meet, and the guts to implement the insights. But what does it cost to not book it?
Many great products can be described in one sentence:
Here’s a simple test: Can a customer (not you) describe your product in one sentence?
PS: If not, then my new course “Crack the Clarity Code” might be for you. It’s launching today and you can get 10% off using code “IwantClarity” when you order in the first week.
When you visit McDonald’s, you don’t need much human interaction, anymore. Go to a terminal, place your order, pay, pick up your meal. No need to speak even a word.
It’s much more convenient for McDonald’s, too. Three terminals easily replace one human and so they can sell faster. Plus, there’s no need to speak with annoying customers.
Everything that can be automated, most likely will.
Which makes the leverage for non-automated interaction even greater.
The crucial aspect is this: Can you provide a better experience than the automation? Can you put a smile on your customer’s faces in a way machines cannot? Can you leverage emotional labor to delight a customer in a way machines cannot (yet)?
If you can’t, your business might be in trouble sooner or later.
If you can, however, your business might be better positioned than ever.
In his biography, Larry Ellison recalls a conversation he had with Bill Gates on the phone that left him stunned:
“I didn’t agree with him on some point, and I explained my reasoning. Bill says, ‘I’ll have to think about that, I’ll call you back.’ Then I get this call at four in the afternoon and it’s Bill continuing the conversation with ‘Yeah, I think you’re right about that, but what about A and B and C?’ I said, ‘Bill, have you been thinking about this for the last five hours?’ He said, yes, he had, it was an important issue and he wanted to get it right. Now Bill wanted to continue the discussion and analyze the implications of it all. I was just stunned. He had taken the time and effort to think it all through and had decided I was right and he was wrong. Now, most people hate to admit they’re wrong, but it didn’t bother Bill one bit. All he cared about was what was right, not who was right.”
Leaders who light the path don’t try to be right, they try to get it right. They don’t care for who’s right but what’s right.
