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Outside our offices here at StoryQuest, the City of Chicago is undertaking the huge project of rebuilding Wacker Drive.  It’s a complex engineering effort and it has disrupted street and pedestrian traffic for months, but we have a bird’s-eye view of all the action.  The process is pretty fascinating: pouring concrete, laying rebar, building a heavy structure that essentially floats in the air and is designed to support itself; and it’s something I know very little about having spent most of my life working in information technology.

My fascination with the building process—and secret envy of manual laborers getting to work with their hands—got me thinking about how this might relate to what I do in building websites for clients.  What I noticed looking down on the construction is that you can’t just create something out of thin air.  You need scaffolding not only to support the structure while it is being built, but to give you something to stand on.  The natural metaphor in the world of web development is the website wireframe or mockup.

When designing our websites for clients we often work through several drafts.  Sometimes these drafts are in the form of live sites, sometimes they are Photoshop mockups, other times they’re created using web-based tools, and other times just sketches on a white board.  The drafts can often be a lot like the real thing, but they make hitting the mark much easier since it takes less time to make changes throughout the design iterations.

In some ways this is like the scaffolding: without the supporting structure, the whole design can collapse under its own weight. The scaffolding (or perhaps more accurately the blueprints, 3D renderings etc.) helps engineers and designers make decisions (and mistakes) during the building process as we learn what is or is not possible. In some ways the construction scaffolding metaphor does not hold up, since it does not necessarily need to emulate the real product; its only function is to facilitate building the real thing.

The other metaphor that comes to mind is the support structure underneath the facade of the finished product. In a lot of ways this is the back end code we develop behind the finished web product.  Our clients don’t see it, but it makes our products more useful and elegant.

Whether building a website or a street, it’s all about hiding the complexity underneath, making it simple, and creating something that will hold up over time.  Use just as much scaffolding and support structure as you need to get the job done.  Anyway, we’ll keep looking down every day… marveling at the activity below!

UPDATE: Over 300 registered! Join us!

We’re very excited about our upcoming webinar with SalesBrain. We are hosting it, but the speaker will be Christophe Morin, founder and CEO of SalesBrain.  He has spent many years developing the concept of Neuromarketing — studying the effect of various stimuli on the brain and what that means in the business world. Beyond just stories, the whole SalesBrain approach is very powerful. It offers great insight into what is most effective in reaching the “reptilian” or decision making brain. I love hearing Christophe and Patrick with SalesBrain talk – both are compelling speakers – no fluff, all facts, research and examples.

Join us. Presented by Next Friday, April 27th @ 2 PM EST – it is filling up fast! Register Here

Above is a my 10 year old daughter. She weighs 54lbs, the backpack weighs 21.8lbs. That is 40% of her weight carried everyday to and from school. Just to get the backpack on requires the use of a chair and a helping hand. Watching her crawl across the back seat in a winter coat and that backpack strapped to her back always make me laugh.  Throw in a clarinet, lunch, and … well you get the idea,  it’s both sad and funny.

Apples recent announcement to get into the textbook business made me think of what her like would be like in the future.  And carrying less is just the start of it. The efficiency and enhanced learning opportunities are endless. If you have a second, check out the video on that page – it’s pretty inspiring!

On the cost side – the story is also great. We recently went hunting online for an Algebra II book for my high school son. I had the ISBN number, looked on Amazon and four or five other sites. Most e-stores did not have the book at all, and one had it for $135.  Only after even more searching, I found it on another site for $25.  Insane on two counts – one, the price and the other on how hard it was to find the book online!

I am excited about what digital textbooks will mean for everyone.  From helping a 54lb ten year, to saving me money, to far better learning experiences for everyone. While I’ll miss the images of my daughter trudging out the door, stooped over with books – I know she won’t.

Stories Sync Brains …

You know that stories and storytelling are powerful tools for any person, company, or campaign wishing to influence others. And while there are all kinds of anecdotal proof or ROI calculations on value of particular story, any truly qualitative data always seems like a stretch. Which is as it should be, there are just too many variables go into and along with telling a story and arriving at results. But it is always nice when you come across a bit of science that supports what your gut tells you. Namely, that sharing stories brings people together, persuades and engages.

I really love this bit of research done by a Princeton grad student – Uri Hasson. He was evaluating brain activity, but not just on how a person or group of people react to a particular stimuli, but on people (two specifically) react when in conversation, sharing stories.

In short, he found that when one person shares a story with another, their brains tend to sync. This is from an article in the Scientific American, Of two minds: Listener brain patterns mirror those of the speaker, by Douglas Fields

“There have been many functional brain-imaging studies involving language, but never before have researchers examined both the speaker’s and the listener’s brains while they communicate to see what is happening inside each brain. The researchers found that when the two people communicate, neural activity over wide regions of their brains becomes almost synchronous, with the listener’s brain activity patterns mirroring those sweeping through the speaker’s brain, albeit with a short lag of about one second. If the listener, however, fails to comprehend what the speaker is trying to communicate, their brain patterns decouple.”

“He asked his student to tell an unrehearsed simple story while imaging her brain. Then they played back that story to several listeners and found that the listener’s brain patterns closely matched what was happening inside the speaker’s head as she told the story.
The better matched the listener’s brain patterns were with the speaker’s, the better the listener’s comprehension, as shown by a test given afterward.”

On one level, not really surprising. But also fascinating to have science validate what we already know intuitively. Stories and storytelling bring us together, educate and actually – sync our brains!. .   This also syncs up with what we are learning in from neuromarketing experts like Patrick S. Renvoise, Chief Neuromarketing officer at SalesBrain. When comes to persuading, learning and overcoming doubt, customer stories are – as far as the brain is concerned – the #1 most credible tool out there.

Neuromarketing is the science of understanding how our brains become persuaded. The basic premise is that we all have three brains.

• Neo-cortex or the rational brain
• The emotional brain
• Reptlian/old brain or the third brain

The third brain is the most primitive from an evolutionary standpoint and is responsible for making decisions.  So, after all the rational information is accounted for, the emotional possibilities calculated, the third brain calls the shots.

One of the leading books on Neuromarketing is “Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons In Your Customer’s Brain” by Patrick Renvoise and Christophe Morin.  Additional resources are at Sales Brain, the consulting arm of the company which is steeped in neuromarketing concepts.

One of the key points is that when you seek to influence the reptilian brain, you really need to only prove the value or gain.  Renvoise & Morin share that there are really only four ways to effectively “prove” anything to the reptilian brain. They are, in order of effectiveness:

1. Customer stories
2. Demonstration
3. Data
4. Vision

My favorite sentence in the book is: “Customer stories are the strongest possible proof of gain” and they are so effective because they are in the past. Of course, that’s assuming that there is no direct lie, the story actually happened.  Thus, stories based in the past are not a promise of what could happen or what someone will do or even an indicator of future success.  It’s an actual experience that one can view it, experience it, and learn from it.

Outside of the past and proven nature of a story, Renvoise and Morin quote Robert Cialdini and his book The Psychology of Persuasion, “The law of social reinforcement stipulates that if we become aware that other people have already accepted a solution to an idea, our natural response will be to more easily accept this solution or idea ourselves.” A customer story is the strongest proof because it is provided by a third party and it is not making any assumption as it has already happened.”

And of course when the customer story is presented using multimedia where you can see and hear the prior customer directly, it is about as high as you can go on the credibility chain.

Want to prove that you can provide value. Tell stories. Better yet, let your customers tell their own stories. And let others understand it, believe and take action.

Tim Keelan is the founder of StoryQuest, a sales and marketing firm focused on enabling honest voices and stories into multimedia and mobile tools for large and small enterprises.

B2B businesses use video to highlight customer references, communicate authenticity and trust, and create a personal connection between them and their potential clients.  Here are a few tips on how to achieve those objectives:

1. Create a video that presents & solves a problem for your customer – B2B marketing is different in that your customer is thinking about you in terms of how you can make it easier for them to do business.  Use the first 15-30 seconds of your video to hook them into your company and services and how you can provide a complete solution to their issues.
2. Offer – Most of your clients are too busy to listen to a long presentation. Outline your offer quickly and create a call to action – what is it that you want them to do?  Pick up the phone and call you?  Request a whitepaper?  Be clear in what action you want them to take so you can see results.
3. Execution – Think about where and how you’re going to produce your video. Whether you’re using your computer’s camera or a professional setup, ensure that the lighting, sound, and acoustics are a good fit.  Your customers want to see a professional organization and it starts with the quality of your video.
4. Create excitement – Be expressive with your presentation – vary your hand gestures, position, voice, and tone to make it interesting for your viewers. Use imagery, text, and pictures to create a multimedia presentation that will keep viewers engaged throughout the video.
5. Delivery – The most important step is often lost in the process of creating the video itself.  Create a specific landing page on your website for your video so viewers can take action (i.e. include a form for their contact info so they can request more information easily).  Distribute your video via your email contact list and on other channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.   Blog about creating the video and tweet about it as you produce it to add additional value and anticipation.

The tough part about creating a video for a B2B audience is that you have a limited window of time to capture their interest.  Plan & execute your video so you can consistently talk about your brand and solution and how you’ll execute. Provide examples and success stories to create trust and credibility.  Lastly, show passion and excitement in your video to create engagement and follow-thru from your customers.

What Makes A Good B2B Story

Storytelling is all the rage these days. Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare, Instagram. These and other tools – all proclaim to be storytelling tools – and they are. Your story is your brand, your strategy and your legacy – for individuals and companies. Stories may be our most powerful communication tool of all, but when it comes to stories in a B2B selling context, I think challenges remain. Everyone talks about a story, often in the abstract. I believe the brand story applies most in B2C relationships. In a B2B context good stories often falter because they slip from personal narratives into a product demos or some other type of feature and benefit recitation. After years of capturing learning, customer and marketing stories, I think there are three keys to sharing business stories.

On the right are three B2B story videos. Examples of stories that share personal past experiences. From these the larger brand story is supported.

1 – All stories are personal. When it comes to field selling – “corporate” stories either don’t even exist or they are powerless. Sure we all know the HP and Apple garage start-up stories. Maybe your company has a story. But those stories are so big, and so disconnected that they stop holding meaning in our daily lives. On the other hand, if your CEO or a sales person shares their version of the story, then it comes alive.  It has power because in that instance the story is not just the HP or Apple story, it is is the storytellers story.  Anyone can tell the HP or Apple story. Only you can tell your version – the one your audience will find compelling and act on. When you tell stories – keep them personal.

2 – Stories are in the past. There seems to be gravitational pull on sales and marketing people when they share stories. They start out by telling a story about a customer only to end up describing features, benefits and what is possible. That means they stopped trusting your audience to see the connections. But when that happens you start telling your audience what you think they want to hear. You stop telling a story and start talking at them. As David Snowden puts it, stories bundle context, content and narrative in wonderfully efficient bundles. That is only true when the narrative  - the sequence of true past events is the core of the telling. The future is promised to no one – as the phrase goes. When you slip for true past stories into present capabilities and possibilities, your credibility diminishes.  You stop trusting your audience, stop entertaining them, and start disconnecting. Your story is an invitation for others to apply the experience of others to themselves. If you want to educate and build trust, tell B2B about the past and resist the temptation to shift to the present or possible too soon.

3 – Trust the story. Stories don’t need to be perfect. They need to be credible. If you are looking to share a story, learn it. Not just the highlights, but the real story. The details. Once you know your story – tell them as your own. When you tell the right story, with details that you know – then you don’t have to sell. The strength of your product and company are implicit in your story. Trust listeners and viewers to make the leap from your personalized story about past events to their personal future.  They have to make that leap anyway – your just helping them over the canyon, instead of pushing them into it.

How do you connect with people theses days? Email, text, websites, videos, events? How ever you do it, we want to hear about what is working for you and others.

We are creating a new site called connectinginacrazyworld.com – and it is all about sharing what works for connecting with people. Because for all the email, twitter feeds and other tools available – it is both easy and hard to connect. More about the inacrazyworld.com site soon, for now, here are a few thoughts on what we find works.

We are all constantly inundated with info, messages, and content screaming for our attention every minute of the day.  Even the content we want to focus on is challenging to access, consume, understand and act on.  If it’s this hard for us as marketing professionals, how hard must it be for our consumers that we’re distributing this content for?  To keep things slightly organized, I’d like to propose three pillars to organize around.  While all of these intertwine and mix with each other, let’s use this as a guide to break up the question of how do we connect with others?

The answer to the question can be organized as such:

1. Effective Delivery – This encompasses multimedia, web, mobile, social and user experience.  Multimedia, including, video, search, podcasts and You Tube are all tools that can help convey your story to others.  But, these same tools help everyone else as well so let’s take a look at how we can deliver and present your story in an effective and differentiated method.
2. Effective Content – You need to create concise, credible, compelling content.  Create and generate content that is engaging, easy to understand and remember, and most of all, drives action using a strong call to action
3. Getting Personal – There is lots of great content that is being efficiently and effectively delivered, however, much of it still does not get through to the intended target.  And most of the time that’s ok, most content is not meant for you or me.  But what about the stuff that is?  The article, message, website or Linked In page that, without a personal recommendation or connection will fall on deaf ears.  Keep content that is engaging, but lend your honest voice to it to power it thru the noise.

These three pillars lead to the six new keys of connecting in today’s world.  These keys are multimedia, mobile, social, personal, story and measurement.  In the next blog posts, we’ll discuss each key in more detail.  Also, check out my upcoming webinar that walks thru these six new keys of connecting in a crazy world coming up.

Tim Keelan is the founder of StoryQuest, a sale and marketing firm focused on enabling honest voices and stories into multimedia and mobile tools for large and small enterprises.

We all have a favorite app or two that we use for both business and our personal lives.  Here’s my take on my top 10 favorite apps and how I use them.

Personal Apps

Around Me –My son (16 years old) came home the other day and said he was surprised at how many of his friends did not have this app.  This is my personal favorite app and can’t imagine not having it.  Use this app to find any place you need, at home or at work.

Lose it – A great and simple way to keep track of your diet and exercise.

Weather Channel - There are many weather related apps out there, but this is one of the best in it’s category.  I use this one often to keep track of the ever changing Chicago weather.

Amazon – This is a great app for both business and personal use. So simple to shop, compare and buy. I use it all the time and even  in retail stores to pull up product info and compare prices and get more details on items I”m buying.

Alarmed –Many other apps and calendars have alarms. For me, I still need a separate app for specific reminders, waking up while I”m traveling, and other important event and/or task reminders.  Easy and simple to use.

Business Apps

Asana –  While it’s not a native app, if you’ve used 37 Signals products, you’ll want to check out Asana.  It’s a free task management solution and is great for team and individual work flow and management.  Bonus feature is that its mobile website works completely like an app.

HootSuite –I uses this both on my desktop and mobile to consume and publish multimedia.  It’s manages and provides a single point of access to my profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and more.

LinkedIn – So HootSuite does not do everything. The LinkedIn app has lots of nice user features and they do a good job of updating the app.  I use it often to edit and modify my profile and check out whats going on with my contacts.

Card Munch – Really nice and easy to use app. Get a business card, take a photo of it, and the app transcribes it and and saves it. Comes in nice format and is well integrated with LinkedIn.

Drop Box – Great app for desktop and mobile. We use it to store and access files in our team and it makes it really easy to collaborate with each other.

Tim Keelan is the founder of StoryQuest, a sale and marketing firm focused on enabling honest voices and stories into multimedia and mobile tools for large and small enterprises.

The Power of your Own Voice and Face ….

So, video and multimedia is becoming all the rage in both B2B and B2C channels nowadays.  And it’s for good reason – using video increases click through rates on emails, SEO, content consumption, engagement, and action.  In our super busy, shorter attention span, and smart phone lives, multimedia engages better than just about any other medium.

Before we go much farther – I have a question.  Right now, do you trust me?  Based on what you’ve read so far ?  My guess is no…..or at least your undecided.  With just one short paragraph, you don’t have much to go on.  But, in our new 140 character world this is often all we get.

So, how can we all become more engaging, faster & smarter than ever before?  By using your face and voice – the two tool’s you’ve had all your life. These two tools are more powerful than any 140 character tweet you can ever come up with.  Your face & voice can convey within seconds general clues about your age, gender, ethnicity, confidence, conviction, and much more.  Within seconds, early levels of trust can be established. Maybe just enough to spark curiosity! Personal engagement is the first step to connecting within our digital world and nothing is ever going to be more personal than you face and voice.

Ok, now it’s time for me to walk the talk. On the right, there is a play button.  At the end of this sentence, click it and you decide if this person worth listening to?  It’s your call.  Whatever you decide, I am confident that you will have made your decision with a better sense of who I am, what I believe, and what it is that I have to say.  In this blog, I’m going to talk a lot more about effective ways to engage the customer be it via faces, voices, stories, mobile content, social media and other content.  My hope is that with most of these channels you’ll not only be able to read, but you will be also to hear more voice, see my face, and then decide.  Do I trust Tim?  Is he interesting?  Should I pick up the phone and call him?

Go ahead … click the video above …you will find my face and voice … then decide.

Tim Keelan is the founder of StoryQuest, a sale and marketing firm focused on enabling honest voices and stories into multimedia and mobile tools for large and small enterprises.