Starting and growing a business is exciting and ambiguous – and that’s the fun. It’s a time of possibility, experimentation, imagination, and showing the world what you can do. But, progress is not a straight line and being a leader is incredibly demanding, stretching you, spreading you thin, and spiraling you toward burnout. Become the leader your vision requires – cultivate the clarity, discipline, and momentum you need to explore boldly and lead intentionally. Get a weekly nudge to think differently, lead intentionally, and keep exploring.
🤬 How to Annoy Your Customers
|
Hi Reader, At least once a week, usually around dinner time, the doorbell chimes. I glance at my phone, pull up the doorbell camera, and there they are: a salesperson making their rounds. Solar panels, new windows, knives, car detailing — you name it. Most of the time, I ignore them. But when I do engage, the tactics are predictable: quick attempts at trust, appeals to social proof — “we just helped your neighbors save a ton of money.” To me, it feels no different than a spam call, a cold DM, or a billboard you speed past on the highway. It’s like walking through a department store and having someone shove a perfume sample in your face. It’s disorienting. My brain was in one place — cooking dinner, catching up with my family — and suddenly someone’s asking me to context switch into whatever their thing is. It’s dizzying. This is what not to do in your sales and marketing. Marketing, as Seth Godin says, is a contest for people’s attention. So, how do you capture attention? With a good story. Think about the energy of that door-to-door pitch: a jarring switchover. Now think about the energy of a great story: magnetic, inviting, the feeling of being seen and understood. Which energy is more likely to build not just transactions, but loyalty? Not just a swing of the bat, but a home run? That’s the power of storytelling. Notice even in this email, I started with a story. My goal was to show you how a story can pull you in, and ultimately set you up to learn something new. You can try this too! The best stories balance three things, often called the rhetorical triangle:
The right balance of these depends on your audience. But when you hit all three, your message won’t feel like an interruption, it will feel like an invitation. Until next time, Michael
Michael Schefman | 321 Liftoff Copyright © 2024 by 321 Liftoff LLC |
Michel Schefman, 321 Liftoff
Starting and growing a business is exciting and ambiguous – and that’s the fun. It’s a time of possibility, experimentation, imagination, and showing the world what you can do. But, progress is not a straight line and being a leader is incredibly demanding, stretching you, spreading you thin, and spiraling you toward burnout. Become the leader your vision requires – cultivate the clarity, discipline, and momentum you need to explore boldly and lead intentionally. Get a weekly nudge to think differently, lead intentionally, and keep exploring.
Late afternoon recently, the door bell rings. Normally, I check the camera, notice the salesman with their branded polo and clipboard, and ignore them. As I’ve previously shared, I’m not a fan of this style of marketing. Most pitches, in my experience, while designed to maximize and speed up trust, actually have the opposite effect. This time, I check the camera and – to my great surprise – I see a young girl, probably elementary school age. She seems to be alone and she looks scared. As a...
A few years ago I was about to kick off a big project. I was excited and eager to dive in, even though the scope of work was a little daunting. Now, I try to be a self-aware person, but even I get it wrong: I tend to be a chronic over-estimator of how long things will take. My gut reaction is to look at the looming work and think “OMG this will take forever.” As an Enneagram 5, I tend to be stingy with my time. My gut reaction is to protect it. I tend to be skeptical and immediately on guard...
I tend to have a big to-do list every weekend. I’m usually too ambitious and want to clean every square inch of the house, try a bunch of new experiments in the kitchen – oh and then deep clean the kitchen after that, and have a little family time too. And, most weekends… I get a little overwhelmed with the size of the list. Sometimes I sit and stare at it, unsure where to begin. It keeps happening though – as if I’m meant to learn the same lesson over and over until it sticks: “Oh right,...