Business Made Simple: 60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution, Management, Personal Productivity and More (Made Simple Series)

by Donald Miller

A good story starts with a character. A character comes on the screen and within minutes we have to know what that character wants.

Whatever it is, it has to be specific or we will lose the audience.

The Character Encounters a Problem:

The problem is the key. If we don’t define the problem, people will stop paying attention.

The Character Meets the Guide:

Next, our hero meets another character called the guide who has overcome the same problem the hero is dealing with. The guide then helps the hero overcome their problem and win the day.

I am literally the GUIDE

The Guide Gives the Hero a Plan:

Then, the guide gives the hero a plan they can use to overcome their problem. Usually this plan unfolds in a series of steps that defines the journey the hero has to take to win the day.

The Guide Calls the Hero to Action:

Heroes don’t take action unless they are challenged by the guide to do so.

Define the Stakes—Success:

The storyteller must paint a picture of what life looks like if everything goes well.

Define the Stakes—Failure:

Will the hero be lonely forever? Will the village suffer loss of life? If nothing bad can happen to our hero, the story is dull and boring. Something must be potentially won or lost or the story won’t engage the audience.

Whenever you are giving a presentation (I’ll share more tips on giving presentations in a later section of this book), or wire-framing a website, or even giving an elevator pitch, use this simple story formula to engage your audience. FIGURE 5.1 For instance, here is the story formula used by a baker to sell a wedding cake:

Here’s Today’s Business Made Simple Tip of the Day Know how to filter your marketing message through the elements of a story in order to engage an audience.

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT How to Clarify Your Message—Position Your Customer as the Hero When clarifying your marketing message, never position yourself as the hero. Always position yourself as the guide.

In stories, heroes are not the strongest character. In fact, heroes are often unwilling to take action, filled with self-doubt, worried the story won’t tu...

In stories, heroes are weak characters be...

There is another character in most stories, though, who is already strong. The guide exists in the story to help the hero win. For this reason, whenever we clarify our message, we want...

Guides are the strongest characters in the story because they have already overcome the very same challenges the heroes must now overcome.

That means they are experienced and equipped and know how to win.

Guides are strong, self-assured, and know how to defeat the villain. Guides counsel the hero on their journey. Position your brand, your project, or yourself as the guide and people will follow your lead.

How do you position yourself as the guide? Here are the two characteristics of a competent guide: 1.Empathy. The guide understands the hero’s challenge and identifies with their pain. They care about the hero. 2.Authority. The guide is competent to help the hero solve their problem. The guide knows what they are doing.

The one-two punch in communication as a professional is to say I know what you’re struggling with and...

DAY TWENTY-NINE How to Clarify Your Message—Talk about Your Customer’s Problem

When clarifying your marketing message, know the problem is the hook.

It means this: Until you start talking about your product, or your brand as the solution to somebody’s problem, they won’t be interested.

The problem is the hook. Until the storyteller introduces the challenge the main character is up against, the audience sits wondering what the story is about.

Because conflict is what an audience pays attention to.

What does this mean for our marketing message? It means that we have to keep talking about our customers’ problems or they won’t be interested in our products.

If you’re creating some talking points about a product, make sure to define the exact problem your product resolves. What pain are you taking away? What roadblock are you removing? What villain are you defeating? Ask yourself these questions...

The more you talk about the problem you solve, the more value you attribute to ...

Here’s Today’s Business Made Simple Tip of the Day When clarifying your marketing message, define the problem you solve.

DAY THIRTY How to Clarify Your Message—Create a Clear Call to Action When clarifying your marketing message, define what action you want your audience to take. A clear message inspires action.

A clear message does not change the world. The action people take after hearing a clear ...

In a good story, the guide must confidently ask the hero to take action or the hero will lose confidence and fail.

Why? Because when the guide fails to confidently ask people to take action, the listener begins to doubt the guide’s competence. Can you or can’t you get the hero out of this predicament? Obi-Wan Kenobi cannot politely suggest that Luke use the force as a potential option; he must declare a clear direction that Luke will “use the force.”

Audiences can smell whether or not you believe in your ideas or your products. You either have a solution or you do not. You are either confident or you are not. You can either help in their journey or you cannot. If you cannot, you will politely ask them to buy your product in such a way that you sound like you’re asking for charity (because you are). If you can help them, though, you will tell the...

Years ago, I was teaching a StoryBrand messaging workshop to about two hundred business leaders. I come alive in a classroom. I was honestly designed to be a professor and I love finding ways to make a point without using a textbook or a PowerPoint slide. I told the audience I had a very important point to make, only I was going to make it on the sidewalk outside the building. I asked the group to stand up and follow me out the door. All two hundred business leaders got up slowly, somewhat confused, and walked out the door, through the lobby, and onto the curb by the street. I then stood up on a box, grabbed a bullhorn, and told them the very important point I wanted to make. I said to the crowd on the curb: “Always remember this. People will go where you tell them to go.” The class laughed and shook their heads and then we slowly went back into the building.

Here was the real point I wanted my class to understand: If you do not tell people what to do, they will not do anything. If you don’t end a speech with a clear call to action, people will not take action. If you do not give people step-by-step instructions on your website, they will not take a step at all.

As you create the talking points that make up your clear message, include a strong call to action; otherwise, ...

Here’s Today’s Business Made Simple Tip of the Day When clarifying your message, includ...

DAY THIRTY-ONE How to Clarify Your Message—Define the Stakes and Create Urgency When clarifying your message, be sure to define what’s at stake.

What’s at stake if we do or do not buy your product? What can be won or lost if we choose another brand over yours? If there are no stakes, there is no story.

Spend some time answering these questions: 1.What will people’s lives look like if they engage the story I’m inviting them into? 2.What will people’s lives look like if they don’t engage in the story I’m inviting them into?

Define what’s at stake and your story will get very, ...

Here’s Today’s Business Made Simple Tip of the Day When clarifying your marketing message, define what can be won or lost if people don’t engage...

How to Create a Sales Funnel That Converts Potential Customers into Buyers

DAY THIRTY-TWO How to Create a Marketing Campaign—Understand a Sales Funnel A great marketer knows how to build a sales funnel.