Adding more words to a message is easy. It usually adds up to simply being more noise. The ability to remove unnecessary, extraneous words, which add nothing to a narrative, is the main trick we need in our writing. What we leave out, the stuff that’s superfluous to the story, is how we demonstrate clarity … Continue reading Musicians play the notes, maestros play the pauses
The goal of any story is to have a reader, view or listener get the point…quickly and easily. It doesn’t matter whether the story is the reason why we’re late for a meeting or the moral behind an Aesop Fable. Someone is telling someone else what happened. The core idea of your said or read … Continue reading Why One Central Truth is vital for your key message
The great default word – solutions – should never be used in your value proposition, or Million Dollar Message. (Actually, there is one place is can be, race to the end if you want to know where). For a start, all businesses provide a solution in one way or another. So, to use it in … Continue reading ‘Solutions’ is not the solution (even if it feels like it should be)
Many of us, myself included, are inclined to say yes to requests for help. Even though we don’t really want to, or have the capacity, to help, we hum and haw, and say maybe or yes. Being at a recent group meeting where one of the participants found it equally difficult to turn down help … Continue reading Why you should “say no quickly”
The idea that you have an elevator trip’s length of time to tell your business story is misleading. It implies you have 60 seconds or so to explain who you are. Well…maybe. If, and it’s a big if, you manage to initially engage your captive colleague’s attention, do you have another 50 seconds to further … Continue reading Why it’s an escalator pitch, not an elevator pitch
Unless you’re a psychopath it’s very likely you carry some ‘imposter syndrome’ on at least one of your shoulders. We all live with the secret fear one day we’ll be exposed as not so clever or competent as we pretend to be. The weight of our (self-imposed) expectations of ourselves forces us to be complicated. … Continue reading Why we’re afraid to be simple
Don’t repeat your ‘what’ if your business name gives me a clue If, by luck or construction, your business name gives me a clue what you do…great start. Doing so allows you greater freedom in playing with the next few words, especially to achieve an emotional connection with a potential customer. If I know your … Continue reading Don’t repeat your ‘what’ if your business name gives me a clue
Just look what a growing sense of tech self belief is achieving…the 14th TIN report has just been released – and what wonderful reading it is for New Zealand. Here are the combined ICT, High tech manufacturing and biotech industries cracking over $11 billion dollars in revenue, growing at more than 11% over last year, … Continue reading Tech self belief and telling our stories
Describing ‘who’ you are means unearthing your ‘what and why’ Telling someone you’re a lawyer or dentist tells me a little bit about your business. It is who, with a very small ‘w’. Such a generic description doesn’t reveal your heart and soul however. Using a broad descriptor for your who doesn’t provide an opportunity … Continue reading Finding ‘who’ means unearthing your ‘what and why’
The new, improved (irony intended) Metlink bus service relaunched in Wellington in early July. With it they gave us a new slogan come value proposition. “On our way”. At first blush it is OK. But, if it is their customers, including me quite often, who are the important people – the addition of one simple … Continue reading One letter change’s Metlink’s value proposition