Make Telling Your Story a Habit

5 Ways to Avoid Missed Messaging Opportunities

Do you ever walk away from a conversation and think about the things you should’ve said?

Whether it was a face to face meeting, telephone conversation or email, these Missed Messaging Opportunities are frustrating and costly. Time and energy are wasted. Good ideas are misunderstood and rejected. Sales are often lost.

I’m not talking about your company’s formal PR and branding efforts. I’m suggesting you focus on your personal storytelling approach.

You have a limited number of chances to reach and influence your target audiences. Telling your story has to become a habit which leads you to see each conversation as a messaging opportunity.

5 Ways to Avoid Missed Messaging Opportunities:

1. Ask yourself these difficult questions: What’s the Big Idea? What are we and what do we want? Clearly define why your company exists in words that will make sense to people outside of your organization. 

2. Make It About Them: What do we do that our customers see as important? What are our top three customer success stories? Show how you’ve solved similar problems for other customers just like them.

3. Craft Your Compelling Story: What are two ways that we are really different from our competition? Why should someone choose us over the other guys? Prospects are going to compare you to others anyway so do it for them.

4. Build Internal Brand Equity: Test your message among team members. Tweak it based on their feedback. Get their buy in. Tell them the story again and again. Practice and hone the message until it feels and sounds just right.

5. Create a Storytelling Plan: Conveying your message doesn’t just happen. Think about those Missed Messaging Opportunities again. Plan for potential storytelling situations. Define who you want to reach and influence. Put yourself in situations where the  opportunities might arise and take advantage of them.

Invest the time and effort. Make telling your story a habit and walk away without wondering what might have been.