Melissa Kwan

#380: How to Make Your Sales Story Land Right the First Time

#380: How to Make Your Sales Story Land Right the First Time

If you’re using proven storytelling structures like the ABT (And, But, Therefore) agile narrative framework, then your messages are clearer and have a much greater speed to impact.

But do you feel like you’re wasting time sharing the same sales story, onboarding session or training over and over again? Even though you have your story straight, you are getting bored telling it.

Today’s guest had the same problem as she found herself burning valuable time hosting the same webinar countless times. It was eating at her freedom to do the things she really loved. So she did something about it.

Melissa is the co-founder and CEO of eWebinar, an automated webinar solution that combines pre-recorded video with real-time interactions and live chat to deliver an engaging experience for attendees.

eWebinar is the byproduct of Melissa living in “webinar hell” for five years in her previous startup. By automating her storytelling, over 2,000 people have joined the eWebinar demo on their own time in the last 10 months, 25% converted (signed up for free trial) on their own without talking to a soul.

She believes that the power of storytelling can be scaled once you nail that pitch 🙂

“As a startup founder, all I do is tell stories every day. Stories to inspire my cofounder, my team, and my customers. One of the things I do best is to sell something that doesn’t exist yet and to get a business going from 0 to 1, and that’s all storytelling,” Melissa said.

• A lot of times, what you are saying is not what’s being heard. The best salespeople know how to align the two
• By using a framework to tell your story, you can guide people to your desired outcome
• Nobody is born a great salesperson, sales is a science which means anyone can get really good at it

Melissa spent 10 years with two startups (eWebinar is her third) and for eight of those 10 years, she struggled to get things going.

“There were many times that I could have and should have failed, but I kept pushing through and luckily, my previous startup was acquired in 2019. Going through those 10 years was almost like going through 10 years of school, which has given me the knowledge and experience to do what I do today.,” she said.

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Kari Nelson

#379: How to Humanize Your Hi-Tech Storytelling for Growth

#379: How to Humanize Your Hi-Tech Storytelling for Growth

You may or may not be in the tech world but you have a complex story to tell.

If you can connect on deep level with your prospects resonating with how you can make their life easier, better and more profitable, then the world is truly your oyster.

But you’re probably not connecting because you’re leading with logic and reason when what your audience really wants is the emotional pull of a story.

Today’s show is for you to show you how to turn your technical jargon, features, functions, and data into an emotional drama that will ignite your sales.

Kari Nelson is the Marketing Director, Construction Division, MEP (Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Engineering) for Trimble, Inc.,

Founded in 1978, Trimble is a Sunnyvale, California-based software, hardware, and services technology company that supports global industries in building & construction, agriculture, geospatial, natural resources and utilities, governments, transportation and others.

Kari’s background and expertise have focused on numerous digital transformation technologies, including servers, storage, networking, professional services, software, virtualization, ITaaS, and now construction management software.

Before joining Trimble, Kari was at Cherwell Software and spent over 15 years with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

As an innovative and collaborative marketing executive with 15+ years’ experience in IT infrastructure (ITaaS), services, and software (SaaS) sectors, Kari generates winning, cohesive marketing strategies, prove their value, and then makes them happen—building and leading dedicated teams along the way.

Storytelling is the magic she uses to ensure “it’s all about the customer, all the time,” and thereby connect with buyers and improve customer engagement.

The B2B marketing programs Kari has created include content marketing, value proposition design, customer journey mapping, product marketing, competitive positioning, sales enablement, social media, website design, messaging, marketing technology,  and analytics.

Career highlights include:

• Led cross-organizational initiatives. Designed demand generation campaigns that contributed to a boost in the $7+ billion sales pipeline attributed to marketing by inventing storytelling methodology that simplified creation and placement of content across multiple social and digital channels, leading to deeper target audience engagement and capture of new accounts.
• Empowered sales to sell integrated portfolio. Attained $200 million rise in server gross revenue by training 3,000+ resellers worldwide on solution selling for a suite of server, storage, networking, and services through 30 training events and six eLearning sessions translated into 14 languages.
• Aligned marketing and sales. Led effort to identify customer value drivers and distill company differentiators, and then evangelize these through seller training and tools, as well as create and promote new digital content across the Buyer’s Journey. (more…)

Daniel Nestle

#378: How to Define Your Brand Niche Using the ABT

#378: How to Define Your Brand Niche Using the ABT

When someone asks you what you do, what do you tell them?

What is your personal brand story? What is the brand narrative for your offering?

When you nail your brand story, it’s concise (essentially a one-floor elevator pitch), crystal clear (your audience can’t help but get you), and compelling (it moves people to action, even if that is just asking for more details about you and your offering).

But defining your brand story is hard, unless you have a proven framework to use that clarifies your story, amplifies your impact, and simplifies your life.

Today’s guest, Daniel Nestle, learned first-hand on our show how to clarify the brand story for his amazing podcast, The Dan Nestle Show.

Dan, Leader, Communications & Corporate Responsibility at LIXIL Americas, is a global communications and marketing wizard with nearly two decades in the B2B services, manufacturing, finance, and education sectors. He specializes in digital communications, integrated marketing communications, content marketing, social media strategy, and brand storytelling.

Prior to joining LIXIL, Dan served as Vice President, Marketing and Communications at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc. where he helped establish the global marketing communications team for this 130-year-old Japanese industrial conglomerate.

Prior to his roles with Mitsubishi Heavy, Dan held senior roles at Edelman and at AICPA. Earlier in his career, Dan spent 16 years living and working in Japan. He holds a Masters in Internet Marketing as well as a BA in International Relations. An active content creator, in 2020 he launched his bi-weekly podcast, The Dan Nestle Show, but is finally understanding how to frame his brand story.

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Darius Holbert

#377: How Music Composers Use Story Structure to Captivate Listeners

#377: How Music Composers Use Story Structure to Captivate Listeners

In January 2012, three young filmmakers who were recent graduates of Chapman University’s film school, released their film called Oh, The Places You’ll Go at Burning Man.

The film was the brainchild of Teddy Saunders and co-directed, shot and produced by Will Walsh and our son Parker Howell.

The seven-minute film blew up on YouTube and was one of the first films to capture the Burning Man experience through the eyes and dialogue of burners.

While the colorful characters capture the individuality and artistry of the annual gathering in the Black Rock Desert of northwestern Nevada, the soundtrack brings the film to life.

Today, the film’s composer, Darius Holbert, shares how to create more depth and impact with your storytelling.

Darius is an award-winning composer of music for film, TV, and new media.

I learned that music was originally added to early films to “drown out the sounds of the projector”. In his storied music career, Darius has drowned out some of the best of them.

Darius has written scores for such film and TV luminaries as Robin Williams, James Franco and JJ Abrams. He has scored a number of award-winning films at Sundance, Tribeca, LA Film Fest, winning “Best Original Score” at NYC’s Moondance Festival and “Best Score” at the Los Angeles Film Awards.

His work has been featured in hundreds of hit TV shows like American Horror Story, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, and Better Call Saul, and in a multitude of video games and commercials.

Darius has appeared on TV shows like the Tonight Show, The Ellen Show, and Fox Good Day.

Darius studied at University College London and the University of North Texas. He has been commissioned to compose operas, modern dance pieces, large-scale concert and chamber works. He has worked for major record labels in production and artist development.

He’s played in front of 100,000s of people at festivals all over the globe, and a million little honky-tonks throughout the American South. He appears on numerous records from various projects, including five albums from his critically acclaimed solo project “DARIUSTX.”

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Steve Rawling

#376: The Three Business Storytelling Habits You’ll Want to Break

#376: The Three Business Storytelling Habits You’ll Want to Break

You tell stories as a business, sales or marketing leader because you know how they connect and build your influence.

But we all default to bad storytelling habits, like telling instead of showing. Leading with NUMBers instead of drama to place your data into context. Or worse…

Today, you’ll learn from a former BBC journalist, Steve Rawling, author of the new Storytelling Tactics card deck, which bad business storytelling habits to look out for and how to overcome them.

Steve is now an international business storytelling consultant. He helps designers, entrepreneurs and academics tell great stories about their work. Steve reckons he has told over 20,000 stories in his career – so can probably help you tell yours.

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Mark Lachance

#375: How to Make Your Own Luck With the Right Storytelling Formula

#375: How to Make Your Own Luck With the Right Storytelling Formula

What if I told you that luck in business is not a fluke but a formula?

I+E+A=Luck.

And what if you could trigger that aspirational algorithm the moment you step out of bed?

But you’re probably thinking, “Whoa, Park is getting pretty woo woo.”

You might change your mind after engaging with our guest this week, Mark Lachance, author of The Lucky Formula: How to Stack The Odds In Your Favor And Cash In On Success.

He knows a thing or two about luck after being mired in a deep, dark hole and reframing his story of success by triggering luck in his life.

Mark is currently the CEO and lead investor of Maxy Media Inc., one of the largest TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Google Display Network performance marketing agencies in the world. Currently, Maxy Media is the number one advertiser in terms of monthly spend on the TikTok platform in Canada and top ten in North America.

In 2016, Mark successfully sold EVO Payments International Canada, an end-to-end payment solutions provider and merchant acquirer that he founded in 2009. He guided the company from its inception with one employee to over 200 colleagues across Canada.

Prior to founding EVO, Mark was one of the founding members and president of VersaPay Inc, a payments solutions provider, which was taken public in 2010. Before joining VersaPay, Mark was a founding member of Pivotal Payments, which is now a multi-billion-dollar public company. He helped set the foundation and drive the company’s sales and revenues before his triumphant exit from the company in 2006.

Mark has made several other highly successful investments in various industries such as payments, cryptocurrencies, marketing, nutrition, fitness, and sports. Over the past twenty-five years, he has invested in and consulted for dozens of other ventures, which have resulted in highly positive returns.

In his new book, Mark asks readers to look around them. Most people are waiting for something. A lucky break? Random chance? The reason is irrelevant, but the flaw of waiting is still fatal.

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Clate Mask

#374: How to Reframe Your Business Story to Increase Your Brand Equity

#374: How to Reframe Your Business Story to Increase Your Brand Equity

Imagine building a successful 17-year-old company doing north of $100 million in annual revenue and then renaming, rebranding, reframing your story.

Nuts, right? What happens to all of that tremendous brand equity you have generated?

Well, that’s exactly what today’s guest successfully orchestrated to help entrepreneurs and small business owners succeed through thick and through thin.

Clate Mask is co-founder and CEO of Keap, formerly Infusionsoft, which makes small business sales and marketing automation software.

Clate is the New York Times bestselling author of Conquer the Chaos: how to grow a successful small business without going crazy. He started Infusionsoft as a custom software shop headquartered in a strip mall in Mesa, Arizona 2001 with brothers Eric and Scott Martineau. Over the years, and under his leadership the company has evolved to what it is today, a three-time Inc 500 ranked company with nearly 20,000+ die-hard users of its web-based marketing and sales automation.

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Douglas Squirrel & Jeffrey Fredrick

#373: 5 Agile Conversations That Make Your Business Storytelling More Influential

#373: 5 Agile Conversations That Make Your Business Storytelling More Influential

You know the power of storytelling to create even more agile companies and cultures.

But stories can backfire on you if you don’t use the right story in the proper conversation.

In this episode, you’ll learn where to use what stories and when to grow your influence and camaraderie with your teams.

Jeffrey Fredrick and Douglas Squirrel are co-authors of Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture. Jeffrey is an internationally recognized expert in software development and has over 25 years of experience covering both sides of the business/technology divide.

An early adopter of XP and Agile practices, Jeffrey has been a conference speaker in the US, Europe, India, and Japan. Through his work on the pioneering open source project CruiseControl, and through his role as Co-Organiser of the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference (CITCON), he has had a global impact on software development.

He runs the Agile Conversations Meetup, is a CTO Mentor through CTO Craft, and is the co-host of the Troubleshooting Agile podcast.

Douglas Squirrel​ has been coding for forty years and has led software teams for twenty. He uses the power of conversations to create dramatic productivity gains in technology organizations of all sizes.

Squirrel’s experience includes growing software teams as a CTO in startups from fintech to biotech to music, and everything in between; consulting on product improvement at over 100 organizations in the UK, US, Australia, and Europe; and coaching a wide variety of leaders in improving their conversations, aligning to business goals, and creating productive conflict.

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Karen Padilla

#372: Your MBA Class on Business Storytelling in Under 60 Minutes

#372: Your MBA Class on Business Storytelling in Under 60 Minutes

The other week, I received a request from Karen Padilla, a Guatemalan marketer pursuing a master’s degree in Global Brand Management at Griffith College Dublin. That’s right, in Ireland. A long way from home.

Karen asked to interview me for her graduate thesis, “Storytelling to enhance non-profit stakeholder-based brand equity”. We talked on ZOOM for over an hour and I was so impressed with her questions, I asked if I could share the recording on the Business of Story podcast.

Yup, I sprung a guest host appearance on her and she happily agreed.

My hope is that my insights about profit and nonprofit storytelling to help inform her thesis will also be of benefit to you.

One of the many areas we covered was about how the majority of organizations miss the mark on Storytelling. They talk about what they specialize in and how they do it. But they miss the real juice of sharing stories about what they make happen in people’s lives.

One of the best examples I shared with Karen is the American Cancer Society’s amazing campaign about being the Official Sponsor of Birthdays. They found a creative way to tell the story of what they make happen – more birthdays – is one of the nonprofit storytelling campaigns I admire the most.

Karen Padilla has become interested in how marketing principles and tools, especially storytelling and branding, can be applied to the nonprofit sector. In her free time, she likes reading, running and exploring restaurants and parks in Ireland, the country that has given her a warm welcome.

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Stu Heinecke

#371: How to Grow Your Brand Like a Weed With Storytelling

#371: How to Grow Your Brand Like a Weed With Storytelling

Gosh, we’d all love hyper-growth for our business. We dutifully fertilize, water and nurture our brand like cultivating a prized rose.

But what if you’re not getting the blossoming sales you seek because you’re spending way too much time focused on the wrong growing techniques?

What if the real answer is to thrive like an unattended weed?

Wouldn’t you kill for a Jack and the Beanstock-like secret to growth?

It starts by seeding your growth with storytelling.

Today, you’ll hear how with Stu Heinecke, a Wall Street Journal cartoonist and best-selling author including his new book, How to Grow Your Business Like a Weed: A Complete Strategy for Unstoppable Growth.

Stu is the twice-nominated hall of fame marketer, NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center author in residence, and was named the father of contact marketing by the American Marketing Association.

“I was driving down the freeway when I saw a dandelion growing out of a crack in the concrete. I was struck by how resilient and adaptable weeds are, and how they always have an unfair advantage. This got me thinking about how we could apply the same principles to business. How to Grow Your Business Like a Weed lays out a complete model for exclusive business growth based on the strategies, attributes and tools weeds use to grow, expand, dominate and defend their territory. ”

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