“Thank you for calling XYZ Industries. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line. Your expected wait time is 32 minutes.”
Storytelling is compelling when we make the stories true through our actions. (It falls flat when you don’t. If you really cared about my phone call, you’d have taken it.)
A luxury hotel teaches restaurant staff (me) how to greet and seat guests. The script and timing are precise. Once seated, the server is to approach the table with a bottle of chardonnay greeting, “Good afternoon <name, if available>, would you like to begin with a glass of wine?”
It’s lunch, and guests refuse this glass of wine more frequently than they accept, but the hotel has sales margins to meet, so the guideline remains in place despite the awkwardness it imposes on the experience.
The salad is delivered within the expected timeframe based on the service guidelines. The guest looks down at her plate with consternation. It’s a half-head of iceberg lettuce balanced precariously with two large slices of bacon piled with other beautiful things and drizzled with salad dressing. She knows if she cuts into this with her knife, the items will scatter in every direction, including all over her crisp white blouse. But she’s having lunch with clients as they prepare for a big meeting afterward, and she doesn’t want to be difficult. So she quietly picks at the edges of her plate until the waiter clears it away without asking if she didn’t enjoy her lunch.
The most dangerous kind of guest is the one who doesn’t complain or leave a negative review. They simply never return. And you won’t know why.
But I can tell you why. You haven’t considered the three dimensions of your story.
Stories are told, stories are heard, and stories are inferred.
- Stories are told – we can create the most extraordinary stories, but:
- Stories are heard through the lens of the receiver’s perspective
- Stories are inferred – and through their perspective, they will create their own story about you.
Storytelling efforts don’t end with the telling. We must make the stories true, and the experience you deliver is a significant and often overlooked part of that story.
If you tell me my call is important to you and then make me wait 32 minutes on hold, I have created an entirely different story about you. I will go away and never come back.
If you focus on creating food that is art and not function, I won’t bring my next business lunch to you.
What story does your experience tell? That margins matter? That art matters more than function?
Nordstrom is a respected department store in the U.S. known for superior customer service and has been listed as one of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for 20 consecutive years. (Source)
Their brand promise is Closer to You. Let’s call it the title of their story.
Their management mission is, “We work hard to make decisions in the best interest of our customers and those serving them.”
This video gives you a 30-second trailer of their story which aims to make great style easily accessible:
Here’s what it feels like to go shopping at Nordstrom. You have a party, event, or presentation, and you have no idea what to wear: no worries. Nordstrom store associates are stylists. Tell them what’s up; they will comfortably install you in a dressing room and get pieces for you. They’ll even give you honest feedback if the pants aren’t the right fit. If you love it and it doesn’t fit perfectly, most fittings and alterations are available in-store and often for no extra charge. (Fun fact: Nordstrom employs the most tailors in the U.S. )
Nordstrom doesn’t end their storytelling with the telling. They make sure the story is true.
What this means to you:
When we can’t reach a human via your customer service number, when you don’t reply to a voice mail request to make a dinner reservation for 20 people, when your people are gossiping and seem miserable at work, a story is being inferred.
There is no fiction or make-believe in strategic storytelling.
Our actions tell stories, and they influence the stories others tell about us.
To turn your strategy into story, consider these questions:
- Does your mission or brand promise function well as the title of your story? (consider reworking if not)
- Do your service guidelines and policies make your stories true (or not)?
Take care out there.
SOME WAYS I MAY BE ABLE TO HELP YOU AND YOUR TEAM:
LEAD YOUR WAY: This mentoring/coaching program is designed to help you step into your leadership and show up as your best self so you can communicate to connect and amplify your impact.
COMMUNICATE TO CONNECT: In my storytelling workshops, I teach leaders of all capabilities how to engage authentically with their teams, community, and stakeholders to create meaningful connections that build trust, increase team engagement and lead to better fundraising and revenue generation.
Did you have something else in mind? Let’s talk and see how I might be able to help. Contact me and we’ll schedule a chat.
Stay in touch.
Sign up for our newsletter and receive a digital version of my book From So What? To So Funded! for free.
Leave a Reply