GarthBox

Storyselling is a lot like storytelling, but with the obvious intention of making a sale.

Many a marketer may claim it can’t be done. Selling and story are separate, they’d say.

This may have well been the case early on in advertising when the sales team never talked to the marketing department.

Alas, now they’re combined and we must effectively tell the brand story while selling a product.

Without products being sold, stories can’t be told.

Without stories being told, no products will be sold.

The benefit of time is now at the wayside. As marketers, we have to work harder than ever before to combine what matters for the target (story) with what matters to the brand (sale).

 

Stay Positive & Exciting, Isn’t It?

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You could dumb it down, turn your project into a to-do list any gruntworker could complete.

You can make it so your business just needs cogs, people who check the box and complete A and B while others complete C and D.

You can convert it into an assembly, compete on price and outsource all the work.

On the other hand, you could also care more, invest more in the long haul and personalize every element of it.

You could give more than you have, connect on a deeper level and listen more than any one would imagine you listening.

For some reason, people have been convinced that to scale you can’t be human, but imagine if you scaled being human?

What if you hired more people who care and who ask questions? What if you invested the time to personalize every outreach and package?

Scaling doesn’t always mean doing more with less, it can also mean doing more with more.

 

Stay Positive & It’s Not A One Or The Other Situation

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Anger and a touch of resentment can be remarkable fuel.

There’s nothing as satisfying as being able to say “I told you so.”

Equally important is anger’s ability to bring us down and hold us there.

If we misuse anger, our attitude can attract the worst out of everyone we surround ourselves with, it can enable the floodgates to open too wide and crush us with our own weight.

Then again, when you think about it, the same potential impacts goes for any other emotion.

Happiness can help us, but it can also hurt us.

Same with sadness, guilt, shame, vulnerability, humor and alike.

The best part? It only takes a moment to pause and notice how you’re using the emotion.

 

Stay Positive & Hopefully For The Better

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Best case scenario, demand meets supply and supply meets demand–a perfect cycle.

More often than not, there’s too much supply and not enough demand.

So we drum up the marketing, shout louder and find ways to get in front of anybody.

In the short-term you might get enough people in the door, but now you’ve caused a frenzy of panic and your supply ceases to meet the demand.

What then?

It pays to market a product, it pays to be ready if no one comes knocking, it pays to have a game plan to deal with your endless supply–a lot of time and attention are put on these elements.

But, it pays far more to be ready for when your supply can’t meet demand.

What do you do or say or give when the appetizer trays are empty and people are in line waiting?

What do you say when someone’s waiting 10 minutes for a beer?

What do you say when the product is backordered?

Those are important moments.

 

Stay Positive & “Sorry” Isn’t Gonna Cut It

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Worse yet, is “Sorry, we didn’t anticipate this.” Wait … you didn’t anticipate succeeding?

Cleanliness indicates more than something is sanitary.

It shows that someone cares. It shows someone is paying attention. It shows someone is looking at the big picture and isn’t sidetracked by the latest fire drill.

Sometimes it’s worth spinning an adage on its head to land on the fact that it’s worth treating your space the way you would treat someone else’s–with utmost respect and order.

 

Stay Positive & Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness

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We’re all aware of what the race to the bottom looks like.

Cutting corners. Competing on price. Making this widget that much smaller or that service that much more accessible.

The race to the top is a whole other outlook–one that’s often misperceived.

It’s not quite the opposite of racing to the bottom.

It’s not about making a more quality product.

It’s not targeting fewer people with better persuasive material.

The race to the top is achieved only by being more human, more personal, more empathetic.

People notice when you care. Truly care.

 

Stay Positive & Who Would Have Thunk?

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Not positive enough.

Not confident, ballsy, serious, analytical, caring, empathetic, funny, determined enough.

Before dismissing what attitude you’re not, it’s worth understanding that these are all skills.

Resilience is a skill. So is being insightful and appreciative.

A skill is something we can learn and get better at.

All it takes is practice.

Actually, no.

All it takes is to decide to use that skill. Then, over time, we’ll get better at it.

It’s amazing what attitudes we have access to once we decide to have the attitude of accessing them.

 

Stay Positive & What’ll It Be For You? Tenacious? Vulnerable?

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