Unexpected Success
Something different
“Be careful what you think you know about a person. Because you’re probably wrong.””
I tend to work with clients who have complicated messages that need to be simplified.
For most people, this translates into tech companies. Founders bent on disruption. Information economy businesses dealing in intellectual property and multi-layered service offerings.
But not always.
I had a client come my way in the construction game. General contracting. Design & Build. Engineering.
Unusual for me, but I trusted the referral.
The Marketing Officer saw a presentation I did to a business group and liked the concept. She felt they had a significantly different approach to what they did than their competition. And she hired me right from the recommendation.
Perfect for me on both.
Her husband - it was a successful, multi-generational, family business - was a real construction guy. Nuts & bolts. Cynical. Skeptical. Callused hands. And definitely in charge.
And when we met, I was reasonably sure this was not going to go well for me.
I had to adjust some of my go-to humor. I shifted to asking questions and active listening.
Then I explained my process.
Step one - the inspirational slide show designed to put them at ease, explain what we were after, and encourage them to see themselves through their customers' eyes.
Step two - do you have any questions? And he had none. Zero. He either didn't get it, or didn't believe in it. Not a good sign.
Step three - I made sure they had no objection to me recording the session and we got started with the story questions. Cave paintings. Aristotle. Hero's journey. And he was pretty quiet at first. Until he corrected, more redirected, one of his people on who he thought the hero of his story was.
He sat up on the edge of his chair and pushed his baseball cap back on his head.
I asked him what he meant. He explained.
The Marketing Officer explained their process and what was different about it.
I asked for clarification.
Then he went deep. History of architecture and engineering deep. Building of the pyramids deep.
He had CRYSTAL clear ideas about what he did for a living and why it was better than anyone else.
He was fully bought-in and it was AWESOME.
That sinking feeling evaporated.
In the end, they put The Sheet to work as well or better than anyone I've ever worked with.
They didn't seem like my kind of client at first. But they knew, maybe better than me, how much they needed a story that worked for them.
We still review their story from time to time. And their customers understand them exactly the way they need to.
And that, more than any other, is probably my most satisfying success story.