A guest post by Daphne Gray-Grant
Eighteen years ago, I spent much of my life feeding babies. Heck, in those
days, I spent all of my life feeding babies.
My 7-week premature triplets were tiny, fragile and lousy eaters. It would
take an hour to feed one of them -- and they ate every two hours. Do the
math: it wasn't pretty. What scared me the most was horror stories of parents
forgetting to feed one of their three kids. Understandable, really. In the
melee of aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends all anxious to lend a hand
-- it would be frighteningly easy to feed one baby twice and another not at
all.
There was no way that was going to happen in my household! To prevent this, I
became the doctor of mothers and drew up a feeding chart. It listed each
child's name on one axis and the times of day on the other. Anyone who was
feeding a child was instructed to mar... (more)
Stories are everywhere these days.
And while businesses have always used stories to connect with their
audiences, we seem to be in the midst of a story resurgence. New books,
blogs and articles regale the power of story to win friends and influence
people, and are filled with examples of organizations doing just that.
An upcoming online conference celebrates story and brings together some of
the top names in storytelling today - Reinvention Summit 2: An Online
Conference for Storytelling in the Digital Age (April 16-20). It's not just
about customer storytelling but about the pow... (more)
I'm bored.
I've read one too many customer case studies that just don't try hard enough.
The latest offender: a feature on a frequent flyer in an airline inflight
magazine that will remain nameless.
The back story
This past weekend I traveled to Phoenix to cheer family on in a half
marathon. While perusing the inflight magazine, I was pleased to see a
customer story. But just one sentence into it I was ready to move on.
Most of the other articles in this award-winning publication were very
well-written and interesting. This one seemed out of place for its lack of
panache.... (more)
We all work hard to create attractive content. But just how useful is it in
actually influencing buyers?
Each year, I look forward to The Eccolo Media B2B Technology Collateral
Survey Report, which opens the lid on how B2B technology buyers consume
marketing content.
Of course, I want to know, what's going on with customer case studies?
Again, this year's just-released report didn't disappoint. Eccolo and Global
Marketing Insite collected responses from 501 participants, who were C-level
execs, VPs, directors, managers, developers/programmers and technicians - all
of which p... (more)
Sales isn’t what it used to be. Prospects are more overwhelmed than ever
before.
They’re pulled in a dozen different directions at any time, challenging
them to actually get anything done.
They don’t have time to listen to a sales pitch, even if they know they
need to make a change.
That’s the basis for Jill Konrath’s new book, SNAP Selling.
Since reading Jill’s first book, Selling to Big Companies, I’ve been a
fan. I even interviewed her for my book, Stories That Sell.
Unlike many sales gurus, she focuses on buyers’ mindsets and how to work
within them.
In SNAP Selling, Jill ... (more)
Casey Hibbard is the founder and president of Compelling Cases, Inc. and author of "Stories That Sell: Turn Satisfied Customers into Your Most Powerful Sales & Marketing Asset." She has helped dozens of companies create and manage nearly 500 customer case studies and success stories over the past decade. Casey is featured in numerous books, articles, and teleclasses. She consults with organizations one-on-one and conducts online customer-story classes.
Scott Sellers
David M. Adler
Anthony Franco
Daniel Morris
Wayne Walls
Niki Acosta
Jereme Hancock
Oren Michels
Marvin Wheeler
Douglas Kim
Ken Guiberson
