Your ‘Story’ Is Your Business Plan
Stoping trying to cut and paste other people's business plans and build your own from your story.
I believe stories can contain as much or more truth than pure “facts.” Think of the power of the phrases sour grapes, crying wolf, or the emperor’s new clothes. Don’t they tell us something instantly, regardless of historical fact, because we understand the story? My favorite part of an elevator speech is where the entrepreneur talks about how some ideal customer has a problem and this new business solves it. That's when the entrepreneur moves off the facts and figures and into the sotry.
Suspend your image of a business plan as a document, for a moment, and think of this “new” business plan as a collection of all your stories, combined with concrete goals that aim to make those stories come true. Essentially, your strategy is the story of you and your business. It tells how and why you started and what you do well. It’s what you like to do. It’s the story of why your customers need what you sell, how they find you, and how you give them what they want. It’s the story of how you focus on the most important parts of the business.
Your marketing strategy also is a collection of stories. Invent a fictional character as your ideal customer, flesh out the character with age, relationships, job, family, media preferences, transportation patterns, likes, and dislikes. Then figure out what story to tell that person, and where to tell it so he or she will see it.
Marketing can also be easier to focus on stories rather than just numbers. Which of these statements resonates more with you: “There’s a potential market of 120 million units,” or “this belongs in every household in this country”? With the story model on in every household your lead to ask the next question of “How”. As in how do we tell every household they need this
Human-to-human connections are the heart and soul of business. At the end of the day, you’re dealing with people — your company is solving problems, alleviating pain points, and providing delightful customer experiences. Revenue is something that happens as a byproduct of a sound business model and a positive customer experience.
Contrary to popular belief, brand storytelling is not about your company. It’s about your customers and the value that they get when engaging with your product or service. The most powerful brand stories are the ones that prioritize customers as the stars. Think of your company as a supporting character.
When you approach building your business plan from the customer perspective you are changing the narrative and the perspective. When we shift perspective we gain the ability to find new ideas and new solutions to old problems. Remember customers buy your solution to their problem, not your perspective of that the solution as the “best things since sliced bread.
If you want to build a better business start with a better business plan.
