Stories Beats Facts 2 to 1: Carnegie Mellon Case Study

 

Carnegie Mellon University did an incredible study on the difference between selling with a story vs just the facts, in a marketing example.

They ran a test with a sales letter for a non-profit.

There were two versions of the “same” letter.  

One version told a gut-wrenching story about a girl that lived in a 3rd world country.

The second version shared the facts on what terrible living conditions the people lived in, how many didn’t have water, how many went without food, etc.

Then they measured how much each of the test groups donated to each letter.

The story-based letter got 118% more donations than the facts-based letter!

They even re-tested the letters.  This time they added both the facts and the story to the same letter.

And the results?

They got a 25% increase over the fact-based letter, but they were still well short of the story-based letter!

I often work with busy professionals that tell me their client is different and sophisticated. 

They won’t be swayed by stories, only by the hardcore facts.

Those busy professionals are wrong!

If you are going to the trouble of creating a video, DO NOT make the mistake of simply “telling” the viewer how or why they should do something with fact.

TELL THEM A STORY!

Don't Write a Business Plan (But Still Plan)

Me - “Wait, how much is it?!’

Sarah - “It costs what it costs.  You can’t put a price on memories.”.

Me - “Well, it sure sounds like Disney is putting a price on it.  And it’s not a “Small World” price either.”

We had been to Disney World twice and now we were headed for the big time; a Disney Cruise.

A Disney Cruise is just what it sounds like, but even more expensive.  

And they do it up right.  No detail is too small and no show is too big.  All of the Disney characters are on board and the staff are wearing Stepford wife perma-grins.

I liked the idea of a cruise, because there is no planning involved.

The itinerary is all taken care of and you just show up when and where they tell you.

But that’s not the case if you are Sarah Alexander.  

She is the queen of planning.

Before we boarded the massive Disney Fantasy cruise ship, she had thought out every minute of every day, including what excursions we would take, what times and where we would eat, and unfortunately, what costumes we would wear each night.  I was Grumpy the night we went as Snow White and Seven Dwarves.

She even had an Excel spreadsheet that was color-coded and filled with formulas.

This was her happy place.

It later dawned on me that Sarah had done more planning for a cruise, which in theory needs no planning than most of the startup wannapreneurs have for their new business. 

By the way, do you think Disney became Disney without proper planning?  

Yes, she probably overplanned, however, this really means many of you aren’t planning at all.

Thinking non-stop on an endless loop in your mind about quitting your job and being your own boss doesn’t count as planning.  That’s daydreaming.

Create a realistic plan and don’t overthink it

You just need a goal to begin with and preferably a measurable goal, like revenue.

Once you have that, you reverse engineer (fancy term for working backward from the goal) your plan to meet the goal.

Think of your plan like you are building a house.

You wouldn’t just rush off to Home Depot and buy a bunch of lumber and concrete and get started with no plan, would you?.  

Oh sure, you could do that and get very “busy” with your build.  

You could work non-stop. hustle, grind, blah, blah, blah, and feel very productive.  

But after a few weeks, you would probably just have a treehouse and be very discouraged.  

In reality, you would find a home design and builder that made sense for you.  

Then you would make sure you had the money in place to make it happen.  Next would be land, utilities, milestones, and a timeline.

That just seems like common sense when it comes to building a home.

Yet I see people use the no-plan process all of the time.

I also have many clients over the years who go to the other end of the spectrum as well.

Don’t wait on the perfect plan to start

“I can’t start until I have my business plan.”

The business plan has been the ultimate excuse for not starting a business for many people.

• You don’t need 50 pages of charts and graphs.

• You don’t need business planning software.  By the way, bankers can spot those a mile away and they’re not fond of them.

• You really don’t need to hire a writer to create the perfect business plan.  It’s your freaking plan. 

What does a plan look like

If you Google business plan you will get about 3,880,000,000 results in just 0.65 seconds.  Yes, I Googled that:).

It’s absolutely overwhelming.

Below is an outline I have used for well over a decade now.  

To me, everything falls into the following categories:

• Marketing 

• Management 

• Financial

Marketing - To me this is the most important section.  If you’ve ever taken basic sales training the first thing you will learn is that nothing happens until something is sold.

• Product and service offerings - Narrow down to 2-3

• Target customers - Who would be your ideal customers?

• Customer buying and selection criteria - Why do they buy and what is the pain point you are solving?

• Competition - How are you different from the competition?

• Marketing strategy - There is forty jillion (a real number I made up) ways to market your business.  What are the top 2-3 ways you will get your very specific message to your very specific target market?

Management - Who will do what in your business?

• Key activities - What needs to be done daily, weekly, and monthly?  How long does it take, who will do it, and where does the activity fall in terms of priority. 

• Outside advisors - Your accountant, attorney, banker, candlestick maker, and insurance broker.  Candlestick maker is optional.

• Goals and measurement methods - Have 2-3 goals and how you will measure your progress toward them.

Financial - You got money?

• Startup budget - How much money will this business cost to start and how much working capital will you need to survive while it grows?

• Monthly cash flow projection - This is where most wannapreneurs quit.  Why?  It’s hard.  But, it’s very eye opening for you too.  How many sales do you think you will make each month (basing this off of the Marketing section) and how much will you spend each month to run the business; that’s it.

When you need a professional business plan

You only need a professional business plan when you are applying for a business loan with a bank.

Even then, professional is a relative term.  They just want to see that you have thought this through and you have a realistic view of how your business will do.  And a business plan by itself will not get a loan.  It just opens the door for a chat and your personal financial situation is what secures a loan.

And when you write a business plan for a lender, you will want to include an Executive Summary, which is a 2-3 paragraph cover that pulls the highlights of your plan into a 1 page introduction.  Consider it like your movie trailer that motivates the lender to read the rest of your business plan.

I know this sounds so cheesy, but it’s true.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.  Ugh, 

By the way, the cruise was a huge success!  

Sarah’s plan was almost flawless and she has the forty jillion pictures to prove it.

4 Quick Case Studies on the Most Important Thing

Stick with me here.  

Whether you’re a Christian, Buddhist, or worship the Great Spaghetti Monster, you will appreciate this.

I’m not preachy, but I do try to read my Bible semi-regularly and one of my favorite set of scriptures is Matthew 22:36-40.  

The Pharisees (the Bible’s version of Facebook know-it-all’s) wanted to trick Jesus by getting him to say one commandment was more important than the others.  

And once he did that, they would be able to say that he didn’t think the other commandments were important and then they would be able to hit the thumbs down emoji and everyone would know what a jerk he was!

The Bible’s Case Study: The Most Important Commandment

When the Pharisees heard how Jesus had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”

Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

Boom!  If you get those two right, the rest have to fall into place.

No murder.

No adultery.

No stealing.

No lying.

No lusting after your neighbor’s house—or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey or jet ski or vacation home.

Want a business example?  

Sure you do!

Alcoa’s Case Study: Safety

In the book, The Power of Habit, the story of Paul O’Neill taking over as CEO of Alcoa, a large aluminum manufacturer, in 1987 lays out what it looks like to make a top priority really matter.

When O’Neill initially took over he sole focus was worker safety.  

It wasn’t new markets to penetrate, new products to produce, new research, etc.  Just worker safety.  

By the way, after his first presentation as CEO, the stock price for Alcoa went down, because of the concern over the simplification of making safety the top priority.

Fast forward to 2000, and the company's market value increased from $3 billion in 1986 to $27.53 billion in 2000, while net income increased from $200 million to $1.484 billion.

But why?

Employees that feel safe tend to be more productive.

This decreases employee turnover, increases morale, and creates a work environment that is conducive to making money.

You get safety right and everything else has to fall into place.

My Case Study: Teaching workshops at the TSBDC

I could have easily said the top priority was just giving great advice to small business owners, but that may not be enough to keep people coming back and build referrals. 

I used four questions that were loosely taken from the book, The One Thing

1. What are the things that other people say you do really well?

For me it is public speaking

2. What are the work projects that you really excel at and enjoy doing?

Getting face-to-face with small business owners to discuss their issues

3. What are you passionate about?

Making sure that small business owners understand all of their options for whatever stage they are in their business

4. What do you love doing most in your business (the important thing that you get so engrossed in that you lose track of time)?

Teaching workshops (not outsourcing most of them)

If I do a really good job of teaching small business workshops and teach enough of the workshops at the TSBDC, then everything else seems to fall into place.

People hear that the workshops are good and more people attend.  If they see me in action, they are more likely to trust me and then schedule a counseling session.  And if I counsel enough qualified businesses I will help create economic impact and that’s what I’m supposed to be doing!

So that’s it.  I personally teach really good workshops and that makes everything else fall into place.

The local pest control company Case Study: Intentional Customer Communication

Every year they would set new revenue goals, customer goals, wanted to lower turnover, reduce re-service requests, lower accounts receivable, customer service ratings, etc.  

They decided that their highest priority should just be intentional customer communication.  

Not just a little postcard and email newsletter now and then.  They decided that every time they were scheduled to come to your house they would send you a few text reminders, an email reminder that also had a picture of the tech and a few fun facts about him, and they would even call afterward to see how things went.  

And the results?  

They met every one of the goals they set!  

Why?  

Because this priority makes everything else fall into place.  

Since the customer knew for a fact when they were coming and what they were going to do, they made arrangements for the service to take place.  

That means the tech got to do the pest service in the house and not just the outside because the customer forgot about them and was not home.  

Then the customer felt like they already knew the tech a little bit because they received the email about them, so the customer was more willing to pay the tech onsite instead of waiting to pay later.  

This also means customers were happier and gave better ratings, because they were more involved in the process and the tech felt like they were doing meaningful work because the customer was happy to see them and paid right away.

So what is your top priority?

What is the one or two things that if done correctly, make everything else fall into place?

The temptation is to give a generic answer like great customer service or be the best at what you do.

Don’t do that.

Instead answer these four questions first to help you uncover your top priorities.

1. What are the things that other people say you do really well?

2. What are the work projects that you really excel at and enjoy doing?

3. What are you passionate about?

4. What do you love doing most in your business (the important things that you get so engrossed in that you lose track of time)?

The answers will help you uncover your top priority.  

The one thing if done well, that makes everything else fall into place.

The Secret Ingredient to Getting Cash for Your Business

Yes, the secret ingredient is bacon😁

“Hey, um...they told me to give you a call.  I have a great idea for a business and they said that you were the man!”

I know I’m in trouble when I hear this.  And I never really find out who “they” are either.

By the way, this dude’s name was Xander, but he was my age.  

I didn’t go to school with any kids named Xander back in the 80’s and 90’s.  All the boys were named Jason, Jeremy, and James...and anything else with a J.  But not Xander, and especially Xander with an X instead of a Z.

“Yes sir, I have talked to at least 3 other people and they all redirected me to you.  You see, I have all the ingredients for a cake, but I just need the recipe if you know what I mean, so when can we meet?  Today?!”, Xander said.

Xander was extra proud of his analogy since his business idea was a cupcake shop that targeted men.  You know, cupcakes with bacon, buffalo chicken, and beer.

“Nobody else is doing this.  I just need the recipe which in this case is the business plan so I can get some money.”

After a quick discussion about how a business plan doesn’t get a loan, we talked about all of his ingredients or rather his ideas.

It didn’t take long to discover Xander was missing the main ingredients ie. capital, collateral, and cash flow.

I explained that this was like missing flour, sugar, and eggs for his cupcakes.

He was deflated and even a little indignant.  

“How could banks be so shortsighted?” Xander asked.  

Didn’t they know this was a goldmine waiting to happen?

I suggested starting this goldmine on the side and building it up to get a proof of concept going, as well as, obtaining some of his own capital.

He didn’t seem very interested in that at all.

“Well, thanks I anyways...I guess.”, Xander said as if I just told him he wasn’t allowed to start at all.

Meanwhile I have helped several startups get funding, but they had more of the ingre...ugh, I’m already sick of that analogy; they had their 5 C’s of credit lined up first.

A big difference was that most of the startups had begun as a business on the side while they held down full-time jobs, which was difficult, but gave them a proof of concept first.

For example, there was the fitness trainer, Jennifer (there’s that hard working J name that I was looking for) that built her business on the side while she held down a full-time job.  

Once she had enough clients to justify going out on her own, she quit her job and added even more clients.  

Jennifer did group coaching classes and one-on-one coaching sessions.  

Her goal was to have her own fitness facility because right now this was all happening in the park, in her garage, and at her client’s homes.

Jennifer found a place that was just right for her business.  It was close to her core group of clients and she could make the numbers work.

She wanted to get a loan to do some buildout (light construction in this case to turn this leased property into more of a fitness facility), buy some specific fitness equipment, and have some working capital leftover.

Her estimated startup would be $100,000.

Below are what banks refer to as the 5 C’s of Credit that determine if you get funded.

Capital - Banks want you to have at least 20% of your own cash when you start.  But why do they make you have money to borrow money?  To show that you have at least some ability to manage your own money and so you will have some skin in the game.  

So that means that Jennifer needed to have at least $20,000 of her own cash.  And as luck and hard work would have it, she had saved $20,000 while doing this for the last two years.

Collateral - This is the fixed asset that you can use to secure the loan.  This is what the bank can get from you in case you stop paying them.  They like houses. They don’t like cars, jet skis, or your baseball card collection.  They like fixed assets that appreciate.

Jennifer and her husband had owned their home for a while and had a little bit of equity, so they used it for collateral.  She also pledged her fitness equipment, but it wasn’t enough on it’s own to hold the note.

Cash Flow - This is your ability to repay the loan based on both the business and your personal financial situation.  The bank wants to make sure there is more cash coming in than debt payments going out; usually they like to see that you have 25% more net income that you do debt payments going out.

In most cases, the bank will not count your business income until your business has been around for two years.

Jennifer had both her business income and her husband’s income to count toward the loan and they didn’t have much debt other than their home, so she was in good shape.

Conditions - How are you spending the money from the loan and what are the current economic conditions and industry trends.  

Jennifer was able to show that she needed $25k for buildout, $35k for equipment, $25k for working capital, and $15k for additional start up costs (deposits, marketing, etc.)

Character (Credit) - Do you have at least two years of experience in this industry, have some type of managing experience, and is your credit good?  Essentially, are you a good bet?

Jennifer had shown a willingness to build on her own, had a lot of experience, and a credit score of 720+.

In spite of a pandemic, Jennifer’s business is growing.  

Not because she was able to get a loan, but because she was already in the position to get the loan by doing the right things right.

I haven’t kept up with Xander, but I would like to try an IPA cupcake one day.

The Morning Routine That Changed My Business

“Doo doo dee dee doo doo...Doo doo dee dee doo doo”

Well, that’s my best impersonation of my phone’s alarm ringtone anyways.

“Can you turn that stupid thing down?!”, Sarah asked.

I’ve tried to adjust the volume in the settings, but Steve Jobs hates me, so the volume turns back up all on its own.

I hit snooze once (why in the world is that even an option) and then I’ve got to get going.

Unfortunately, my alarm clock is on my phone and my phone has given me a lot of little red boxes with white numbers, which means my Lizard Brain has been activated and I must see what they mean.

Fast forward 15 minutes later.

I’m frustrated over an email reply, upset about a text from a family member, and worried about gas prices...again.

And this is all without Facebook or Twitter.

This was 2015 and for years this was my morning routine.

My goal was simply to wake up before the little munchkins in the house did and go as fast as I could.

I would hustle through getting ready, making breakfast, and packing lunches.

Then as the kids got up one by one, there would be hugs, kisses, tears, (when there are three little kids, somebody in the group is always crying) and then I would be off to work.




Once I would arrive at work, I would immediately jump into email and voicemail and start putting out fires.

By 9:00 am I would feel exhausted and overwhelmed.

I would wonder why I wasn’t getting the important things done every day that was a priority for me.

I started my own side hustle in 2015 and I joined an entrepreneur coaching group.




Now my mornings look much different.




The side benefit of starting a side hustle is that it forced me to change how my mornings were structured.




I couldn’t get away with just getting up and going into each day without a plan or routine.

I had to get focused and be intentional about how I started each day.

Now, my personal routine is to wake up at 5:30 and head to a quiet place in the house.

I’ll pray with a little bit of meditation and visualization. I know that sounds so cheesy, but that little bit of focus in the morning helps me stay on track for the rest of the day.




Then I journal. This includes writing my annual goals every single day and the rest is a free-for-all. Somedays I write only my intentions for the day. Other days I write about the good things that happened yesterday. And some are just an absolute brain dump. I just get whatever is bothering me out on paper so it can live somewhere else for a while.

Now understand, this was not an immediate shift. It was gradual and included a lot of trial and error, but mostly failures.


There were mornings when I still hit the snooze button as I used to.





There were mornings that I would just stare at a book and never read a word.





There were mornings that I was just paralyzed with what I should be doing and ended up frustrated with nothing to show for it.

But that’s just my morning progression and may not be completely relatable to you.

However, a majority of the successful entrepreneurs I’ve worked with over the years have a very similar morning routine.

Very few are successful with the “wake up whenever and check my phone first thing” morning routine.

Below are some of the most common morning routines of successful entrepreneurs. Pick just 2 or 3 you can implement tomorrow and you will notice a big difference in just one week.





Journal - This one is my favorite. I started doing this in 2019 and in one year my income doubled. Maybe I’m giving it too much credit, but the simple brain dump of swirling information in my head was enough to move me up the imaginary happiness scale by a few points every day.


Meditate/Pray/Visualization - Fill your mind with things that you are thankful for and let go of the things you can’t control.


Read - Smart people write books. You want to hang out with smart people? Then read!


Plan - What 2-3 priorities do you want to accomplish today?


Workout - We always say there is no time to workout, yet we spend 4-5 hours on our phone each day. Exercise will get your endorphins going and clear your mind.


Work before the sun rises - While I completely buy-in to your values being faith, family, friends, and then work, you may have to adjust your effort in the first couple of years to get your side hustle to take off. And if you need to, set the alarm clock even earlier, shorten the new morning routine and work before everyone else in the house gets up.




As for my morning alarm, I have moved strictly to my FitBit alarm, so I won’t be tempted by my phone and it won’t wake Sarah up.

The Do's and Don'ts for Testing Your Business Idea

 My favorite “quit your job” scene from the movies is in Jerry Maguire.

Jerry, a sports agent, has a crisis of conscience and decides that he needs to focus more on individual attention for his clients and less on the bottom line.

“Well, don't worry. Don't worry. I'm not gonna do what you all think I'm gonna do, which is just flip out!” 

Jerry then packs his boxes, takes some goldfish, and talks one other employee into following him out.

Look, I get it.

We all have dreams of throwing off the shackles of a 9-5 job. By the way, where did the 9:00 in 9-5  come from?  Is that Dolly Parton’s fault?  Who has a job where you can walk in at 9am and leave at 5?  If you have that job maybe you should keep it.

But don’t pull a Jerry Maguire and storm out of your job with no plan in place.

 In fact, I swear people do this and cash in their 401k knowing they will crash and burn, because they are so desperate for a change.

If you have a burning business idea or even a side hustle that needs to grow, check out the Do’s and Don’ts of testing your business idea before launching full time.

Don’t ask friends or family

We all have that one person we know that loves to “tell it like it is”, like they’re a guest on Jerry Springer, but most of our family and friends will tell us what we want to hear.  

Asking your Aunt Linda, who’s a payroll clerk near retirement, what she thinks of your idea for becoming a digital marketing consultant isn’t very helpful.  

Yeah, she’s on Facebook a lot, but she’s not your target customer.  

You might want to ask Aunt Linda to introduce you to the owner of the business though.

Do talk to potential customers (people you don’t know) and get honest feedback

This will be awkward because you will have to step way out of your comfort zone.  

But guess what?  

This whole thing will eventually be outside of your comfort zone, so this is a great way to tiptoe into it.  

If you want to become a digital marketing consultant for service-based businesses, then talk to some affluent business owners you don’t know.  

Remember, we’re not asking Aunt Linda directly, but she may be able to introduce us to some people, and so can your family and friends.  

This will also work if it’s direct to the consumer.  

If you want to start a residential cleaning business for affluent homeowners get some introductions and post on some Facebook groups.  

You can even create a brief, 5 question survey and ask the tough questions you are scared to get answers for like pricing.  

 

Don’t overthink it

Perfection is the enemy of progress.  

Whatever you start out doing right now will almost certainly change by this time next year.  

That’s normal.  

Waiting to have the perfect website and getting everything trademarked is silly.  

Nobody is going to steal your idea because they are too busy not implementing their own idea.

Do just start selling

Quit waiting on permission to start.  

I get inquiries all of the time from people that are scared that someone in a black trench coat with a briefcase from the government will knock on their front door because they made an extra grand this month.  

If it does happen you may be the first that I’ve heard of.  

You are allowed to make up to $3,000 in a calendar year without any structure in place.  

And I’m sure I can get in trouble for saying this, but even if you sneak up to $5k-$10k without all of your I’s dotted and T’s crossed, you will be just fine.  

This means you can just start to test out your idea.

Give it away

Not to everyone and not for long, but at least a few people over the first few weeks, so you can test how well your idea works.  

You can also charge just enough to cover the cost of the product or service, which also gives some skin in the game for the customer.

But most importantly, you can make the agreement that you will receive a fair testimonial after the transaction takes place.

This is a win-win all the way around.

As for Jerry Maguire, everything worked out in the end.  Because it’s a movie.  

And sure, you know a Jerry Maguire or two, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Give yourself a real chance and start testing your idea today!