What's Your Story?

Nugget For The Noggin

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, February 4, 2013

There is no question that personal stories reinforce what you are trying to accomplish with your family members, your friends and especially your customers.

Stories told to customers seems to have been forgotten in the sales process – telling our customers our story.  When you tell a (short) story about you and/or your company, it establishes a “good feeling” about working with you and/or your company.

What is YOUR story?  What is your Company’s story?  Do you have one or more stories to tell?  Have you been telling your story to your customers?

From her book, Selling With Noble Purpose (NSP), Lisa Earle McLeod suggests that for your story to be compelling, it should:

• Be true.  100% true.
• Be Short.  Read in less than 2 minutes and contain no more                     than  300 words.
• Describe the impact on the customer.  The story does not stop at the event; it describes the consequences as well.
• Includes vivid details.  Dramatic photos can make it even more powerful.
• Touch emotions.  Story about human beings whose lives were changed.
• Supports your NSP (Your Noble Selling Purpose)

For more information about the book and Ms. McLeod, go to her web site at  http://www.mcleodandmore.com/ and/or her blog at: http://www.mcleodandmore.com/blog/

Considering those guidelines, here is a story about Keller Williams Realty from which I recently retired.

I witnessed how some agents, through no fault of their own would get into financial difficulties.  Having served in the U. S. Coast Guard I thought about how the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance Program would come to the rescue of Coast Guard Families because of the many voluntary contributions into the program by Coast Guard personnel.

I suggested to Mo Anderson of Keller Williams Realty that a similar program within Keller Williams Realty would reinforce the company’s belief that its associates are its number one assets by helping members in distress.

Keller Williams created Keller Cares which was very much like the Coast Guard program.  Agents would donate portions of their earned commissions to the fund.  The fun would then be used to provide financial assistance to its agents in time of need.

At the time Hurricane Katrina stuck, the fund had approximately $500,000 in its account.  There were 17 Keller Williams’ offices and well over 700 agents affected by the storm in one way or another.  Mo Anderson announced that each affected agent would have $5000 deposited in his or her account, no questions asked.  (Impact on people)

You do the math.  $5000 times 700 agents equals over 3.5 Million Dollars; the account had only $500,000.  Within a week thousands of Keller Williams agents throughout North America had more than made up the difference.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story.  The owners hundreds of Keller Williams offices donated portions of their own profits to be placed into an account from which the 17 affected Keller Williams office could draw from to cover their operating costs during the period immediately following Katrina when few if any of them could conduct their business.  (288 words) (it’s true) (includes vivid details)

The above story covers the five areas that Lisa McLeod indicated to be an important aspect of any story you tell others.  Although not specifically stated in the story, the story also supports my own personal Nobel Selling Purpose, “to help people do what they do to do it better.”

If this is the first time you have heard the Keller Williams “story”, how does it make you feel about Keller Williams Realty and its owners and associates?  It is difficult if not impossible to have anything but good feelings, wouldn’t you say?

What short story can you tell your customers to make them feel good about selecting you and your company?  I think you will agree that it could make a significant difference.

Mooring Lines

MOORING LINES

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, January 21, 2013

Visualize if you will, a sleek, brilliant white U. S. Coast Guard Cutter sitting at the pier.  Running at a diagonal on the bow are two stripes, one red, one blue commonly referred to as racing stripes.  With only one look you can immediately tell this vessel was made to run.  Yet it sits tied up to the pier and held in place by mooring lines.

Take a look at the following diagram.  You can see that there could be as many as six such mooring lines keeping the cutter from drifting away from the pier.  Mooring lines have been used for hundreds of years to keep ships in place.  It is not until the Skipper orders that all mooring lines be “taken in” that the Cutter can engage in its intended purpose – saving life.

The Skipper knows what must be done; it is the BIG WHY for his existence.  People are in trouble and the Skipper knows approximately where they are.  As the Skipper carefully maneuvers the Cutter away from the pier and out beyond the breakwalls, he orders the massive well tuned engines to come up to full speed.  As the controllers are pushed forward the stern sinks a bit into the water and the bow comes out of the water as the Cutter begins to cut through the waves on a heading that will take the Cutter on the most direct course to the vessel and sailors in distress.  The Skipper also knows that waves, tides and wind will do everything within their power to cause the Cutter to veer off course and constant course corrections are given until the Cutter arrives on scene.  That is when the crew goes into action to secure the stricken vessel and retrieves the distressed sailors and returns safely to port with vessel and crew.

We are all like the Coast Guard Cutter are we not?  Being safe means we are moored to our piers by the strongest of mooring lines but with different names.

• Doubt
• Ego
• Failure
• The Unknown
• The What If’s
• Fear

We all know, or should know, where we want to go.  If you have no idea what your desired outcome is to be, then there is no reason to remove the mooring lines that are keeping you from arriving at an undetermined destination.  If you know what the BIG WHY in your life is, you know what you must do – remove the mooring lines keeping you from getting there! 

It starts with removing the mooring lines of doubt, ego, failure, the unknown, the what if’s and fear from your life.  Failure to remove these will prevent you from even leaving the pier let alone getting to where you want to go.

Doubt:   We all have doubts of some kind.  We doubt we can safely make the trip.  We doubt that our efforts will be appreciated.  We doubt that we can do the job.  We doubt that our mission is realistic.  You can add your own doubts as you perceive them to be.  But are they real?

Ego; a huge mooring line:  We become afraid of what others may think of us.  As Ethel Barrett suggests, “we would worry less about what others think of us if realized how seldom they do (think of us).”  Ego can drive some people forward and hold back others.  Know your ego and its affect on your life.  Is what you believe real?

Failure:  If we never failed at anything, we never really tried at anything.  Failure is a fact of life; we will fail from time to time.  Dr. John Maxwell wrote in “Failing Forward”  that it is all about the process of failing and then learning from the failure and moving on to greater achievements because of experiencing failure in our lives.  Why fear something that ultimately can help us achieve great things?   Are your thoughts of failure real?

The unknown:  Who knows anything for certain?  When the Cutter set sail, there were unknowns that could crop up at any time during the mission.  When you have a plan; when you work the plan; when you prepare for obstacles; when you train and practice; when you constantly move forward; you tend to get to where you want to go in spite of any unknowns that may appear in your path.  Are your unknowns real?

The “what if’s”:  How many times have you asked yourself and others, what if this happens?  What if that happens?  What if’s will cause you to never take in your mooring lines.  There will always be what if’s that will hold you back as long as you permit them to fester in your mind.  There are other what if’s that are far more healthy like what if I succeed?  What if I exceed my goals?  What if I find even better choices that I can take?  It’s a mindset of success; not failure.  Are your what if’s real?

Fear:  The largest mooring line of all.  Fear will cause us to never leave the pier.  It will also cause us never to reach our potential.  F.E.A.R; False Expectations Appearing Real.  There is a wonderful book written by Susan Jeffers, Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway!  That pretty much sums up fear; just do it.  Most of our fears never materialize yet they tend to cause us to freeze in our tracks.  Are your fears real?

Hopefully the image of massive mooring lines keeping the Cutter from sailing will enable you to visualize the various types of self-imposed mooring lines that are keeping you tied safely to the pier.  As a ship was not built to be tied to a pier, you were not created to be tied to whatever is holding you back most of which as stated are self-imposed.  Why would anyone do that to themselves?

I believe we do it to ourselves because we are simply unaware.  Being aware is to a person as having fuel in the tank is to a Cutter; it makes both go!  Being unaware will cause you to sit and wonder why everyone else is experiencing such success and you are not.  If you are unaware of what is holding you back, you have no idea of what it will take to move your forward and therefore take no action to change.

The first order of business should be self-analysis.  Set time aside to literally sit and think; something so few of us ever do.  Make a list of what IS holding you back from the success you desire.  Then, as Byron Katie writes about, ask these vitally important questions.

IS IT TRUE?

IS IT REALLY TRUE?

HOW DO YOU ACT/REACT IF WERE TRUE?

WHO WOULD YOU BE OR WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF IT WERE NOT TRUE? 

DRAW A MENTAL PICTURE OF WHO YOU WOULD BE IF YOU DID NOT BELIEVE IN THE MOORING LINES HOLD YOU BACK?

“There are no new stressful thoughts; they are all recycled.”  Byron Katie