The storyline and Chinese whispers
June 27th, 2009Articulating why someone should choose you or your product over someone else’s is hard.
We have an endless array of tools to distribute the story, but often the weakness is not where we tell the story, but how well we tell it. Unless you run a pure online business, (where you get to control the message at least to the point where others start to talk about you) you probably have people in your employ to tell the story. Either on the telephone or in person, someone is selling your products or services for you, and telling the story.
The sales force are your story tellers - Individuals, who often work largely autonomously, often hired because they are “hunters”; people with the ability to go out there and with little more than their own drive and skills open doors and meet quota. Their individualism, and ability to get things done with limited support is celebrated.
And there is the dilemma. Managers sweat over the precise wording of the value proposition, positioning the brand away from the competitors, highlighting their leadership in their niche. They carefully craft language to connect with the audience.
Then it is handed over to the sales team, and a game of Chinese whispers starts. The story is often interpreted in as many different ways as there are sales people.
So the questions is does it matter, and if it does, what can you do about it?
Does it matter? - I think it does. In most markets today, differentiation is hard enough to achieve. So whatever that differentiation is, articulating the story effectively can be the difference between success and failure. How complete is the story told, how passionately, how it is made relevant to the customer.
What can you do about it? – make sure there is broad agreement that the story is the best it can be. If there are sales people who don’t buy in to it, deal with it in one way or another. If it is because your story doesn’t stack up, adjust. If it is because someone can’t or won’t get on board, you’ve got another problem. It’s in everyone’s interest to help sales people tell the story in the best possible way. An investment in ongoing, two way communication with the front line will not only help you get the story out, it will also give you the feedback you need to adjust when the market changes.
Why not use the same tools you might use externally, (like the web, video, podcasts) to engage your sales team. If you invest the time to listen, you also have the right to expect people to pay attention when you ask something in return.
In the end, customers will determine what your brand is, and they will determine whether your story stands up. But amplifying your story consistently will have an impact. What else would you do, or have you done?
June 28th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Good advice, David. As a freelance writer, hoax speaker and corporate comedian, I am often dealing with marketing and sales people at conferences, events and product launches.
One thing I would add to your post, to help get a consistent story across, is to firstly express that story in the simplest of terms - the more one and two syllable words the better. A message that is clear, concise and unambiguous has the greatest chance of being understood then passed on without the Chinese whisper kicking in.
I have generally tried to write as if my audience had the vocabulary of a 13 year old. It’s a good starting point.
(By the way, found your blog via Technorati, and started following you on Twitter today. My user name is graemebowman.)
Keep the wisdom flowing.
Cheers.
June 28th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Hi Greame, good advice. Less is more, but it is also harder. That’s why it is sometimes hard for people to understand why some clever marketers get paid a lot of money for only a few words…I’m following you on Twitter too.
Cheers,
David