EVERYBODY’S
GOT A STORY – Learn How to Connect With It and Drive Results
From It.
A newsletter is an unbelievably great tool to help you
connect with your clients. Not only can you provide value
through information, you can also let them know something
about your values, your corporate mission, and even your
personality through a newsletter.
You can use an easy ‘pre-formatted’ template or an outside
provider to prepare the newsletter, as long as you
include a personal note and some ‘storytelling’ about your
firm or your team in each newsletter.
[I provide a quarterly newsletter service for my
accounting clients, The Accountant’s Statement with personal
storytelling. Click
here to view details about the service]
Get personal. At least a little bit.
Who’s getting married, who recently acquired training or
designation, and where you’re going on vacation are things
that your clients may connect with. You can also share some
of your victories and your struggles.
People relate better to other people with shared
experiences or shared dreams and ideals. They will
develop a closer, more loyal relationship with you when they
know who you are. The more often you do this, the stronger
the relationship will be.
Some people think ‘storytelling’ is something you do with
small children, in public libraries, or at book launches.
The truth is very different.
Storytelling is involved in most of our interactions and
transactions throughout our daily life.
We tell stories with our words, our pictures, our body
language, our gestures, and even our silence.
The benefit of learning to tell stories on purpose
is to learn how to drive results and make
better connections from storytelling that will make a
big difference in your firm’s performance and relationships.
What is ‘storytelling’?
My definition of storytelling would be:
Storytelling is the art of communicating and connecting.
Who among us doesn’t want to be a better communicator?
And who doesn’t want to connect better and deeper
with clients, prospects, team members or even family and
friends for that matter?
“Stories are vibrant forms of expression that bring life and
meaning to every human activity.” Nelson Farris, Director
of Education and Chief Storyteller, Nike (ED NOTE: Very
cool job title)
On a personal level, storytelling is something we all do,
even if we don’t recognize it or do it very well and it’s
something we all connect with, even if we’re not aware of
it.
“Stories are the single most powerful weapon in a leader's
arsenal.” -Howard Gardner, Harvard University
On a business level, we NEED to tell stories and we should
learn to tell them very well. The very essence of marketing
is to tell a story with the hope of forming a connection and
trust with the ‘audience’. You have a service (or product)
that can benefit a potential client and you need to let them
know about that. But who are you and why should they put
their trust in you?
It has been said that it used to be enough just to make a
decent product [service] and market it. Not anymore. You’ve
got to have ‘Corporate Soul’. The consumer wants to know
who you are before buying what you sell.
-How do you effectively reach hundreds or thousands of
people with the message about who you are and what you
offer?
-How do you distinguish yourself from the rest of the
service providers out there?
-How do you maintain client relationships once they’ve been
started?
-How do you build stronger relationships with team members
(recruiting and retention)?
-How do you keep close ties with family and friends in a
busy world?
Tell them a story! And keep connecting through stories.
Most of the time, in our interactions, our stories flow
without needing to be aware of doing it on purpose.
However, in ALL RELATIONSHIPS you have to continually work
at it to maintain a connection and trust.
Spending some time, some guidance, some focus, some intent
and desire will go a long way.
Next month, I’ll continue with storytelling.
If you provide the intent and desire, I’ll provide guidance,
focus and clear steps about how to use storytelling and how
you can become a better storyteller.
I’d love to provide some samples of The Accountant’s
Statement to anyone who is interested.
-Please email me directly to receive some samples of recent
newsletter campaigns for my accounting firms.
-Please click
here to view details about the service. Our next issue
is December 2006.
Best regards,
Debra Dowdell
Debra@PowerYourPractice.com
Bus: 905-951-9773
Toll-free: 1-888-272-2735
www.poweryourpractice.com
Power Your Practice© 2007
Power
Your Practice does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of
any statement or other information and materials provided in
this newsletter. All articles and other information and
materials in this newsletter are provided for general
information purposes only.
