James: Right. And as part of your framework, I imagine you have certain information you need to gather when you’re helping a client develop their story. Would you be able to share some of that with us?
Will: Yeah, sure. So I can share this after the podcast as well, with a template we’ve got. But a lot of the questions we look at are really delving into the emotions. So for example, we look at, yes, first of all, how did you come to be where you are? You know, tell us a little bit about your background. But we’ll also look at, what are the common challenges you’ve had to overcome as a business owner to get to where you were? And dive into those.
So for example, you know, top of mind, because I’m reading this great book at the moment called Shoe Dog by the founder of Nike, you kind of see his story, how he goes through, and he’s had all these issues with cash flow. And he explains how that made him feel, the pressure he was going under. So those are some of the challenges that we kind of try to dig into, and look at, when you were going through these challenges as a founder or a CEO, what were you feeling? Or what kind of emotions were you feeling then?
James: I did a training on that book for SuperFastBusiness members several years ago, it was one of my favorite books at the time. It’s a fascinating story. But I’m just wondering, okay, how do you translate that story to selling sneakers? Because I imagine, like you, I didn’t fully know the whole story. I knew the part about the waffle iron. I knew that the original Nike sole came from a waffle iron. I didn’t know about his struggles with cash flow or how the name of the shoe related to his trip to Greece, etc. So how do you get that story into the marketing message? And why is it relevant to the customer, if at all?
Will: Yeah, I think it’s one of those ways where he goes in and really… It’s funny because growing up the way I did, Nike for me was always the bigger brand. I always viewed them as bigger than Adidas and Puma and all this kind of stuff. So I grew up in an age when Nike was a dominant brand. But for me to read that book and go back to it, now I’ve got the image in my mind. I’m understanding how they got to where they were, really getting to the underdog story. So after reading, I’m like, Well, I want to support the underdogs, right? I want to support the guys and girls who are there at the coalface and really struggling to grow their businesses. Because hey, as a business owner, sometimes I go through the same thing.
So having a different look at it, having the personal relatability of the experience that he went through, it kind of brought me on his side as a consumer. And now I’ve got a loyalty to a brand where before I just saw them as a dominant force. Now it’s like, Hey, I knew what he had to go through to get this brand to market and to grow it. Now I’m more kind of loyal to his brand, let’s just say.
James: Would you buy a pair of tigers?
Will: Probably not, actually.
James: If you don’t know what I’m talking about, and you’re listening to this, you have to read the book. But yes, it’s a really great business lesson book.
Listen to the full episode HERE
See our products HERE
Let Will Wang and his team bring in those quality leads your business needs
Leave a Reply