Thanks to my friends at Influenceology for letting me share this. It spoke to me directly this morning and I hope it does the same for you.
March 28, 2013
San Diego, Ca
Overcast 69 Degrees
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Dear Business Builder,
“The Lords of War”… Great subject eh?…
It sounds really badass.
From the sounds of it you would think that you were about to be introduced to Genghis Khan or some legendary tribal leader in South Africa…
But, Nope…
It’s the title of a show on the boob tube (a term my grandparents used to call the television).
Usually at night, my choice of entertainment and relaxation is reading.
But, recently after a long day of maximum brain flexing, a long workout and cooking dinner, I didn’t feel like “thinking” about anything — I just felt like vegging out.
I turned on my intelligence reducer AKA ‘the television’, took my universal remote IQ test (trying to figure out how to turn on the channel guide) and after accidental success, was instantly drawn to this show’s title.
I flipped to the television show and instead of it being about Lords of War, it was about an auction.
This particular auction specialized in weapons — guns, knifes, swords and any old war paraphernalia.
Out of knee jerk reaction, I was about to flip away…
… but I couldn’t!
Here’s why:
A client had brought in a helmet from the 18th century…
The expert antique collector began explaining how it was made, how it was used in the past and how it influenced modern day war fighter’s helmets.
I’m not proud to admit it, but I was intrigued.
I thought to myself, “that is some pretty cool stuff”
I wanted more…
I wondered, “what does the next guy have?…”
So the show goes to what seems like an eternity of commercials and then returns to the show and the next segment was about a Colt revolver that supposedly belonged to Buffalo Bill.
Did you know he got his nickname because he had killed over 4000 buffaloes? I didn’t either, but I learned this unique fact from the auctioneer’s history lesson.
And then the item owner began explaining how he came into possession of the firearm and how he could prove that it was an authentic piece of history.
It got me thinking…
“Why is this show so interesting to me?…”
“I don’t collect guns…”
“Heck, I haven’t even shot a gun in years!”
Then it dawned on me.
It’s the stories.
More or less each and everyone of these auction items had a story behind them.
Either a product story, a company story and at very minimum a history.
Later, my insight was even monetized.
There was a WW2 item up for auction that was owned by an officer in the US Army. The appraiser informed the seller that if they could dig up the story about the officer and about his personal story, that the item would almost twice as valuable — because it had a story behind it!
This is a major lesson for you in your business. It doesn’t matter what you sell or what you do for a living, your ability to “storify” it will increase it’s value.
An auction item with a story is more desirable than one without one.
A company with a story is more desirable than one without one.
And a product that has a story is more desirable than one without one.
Whoever has the best story — WINS!
Make your product, service or company more desirable — learn how to it’s story.
We have a devoted nearly a full day to helping you craft and tell your stories here…
Loving Living Giving Large,
Jeff Paro
Editor
www.InfluenceOlogy.com
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