Storytelling for profit. recently there's been a business trend to emphasize storytelling for business purposes. So at Nike, all the senior executives are designated corporate storytellers. At Procter and Gamble, they hired a Hollywood executive to teach their executives. How do we tell stories at leading business schools, they've even integrated storytelling into their MBA curriculum. So what does Nike know that we don't have valuation is a story not the truth?

Nike is not selling shoes. It is selling a story about those shoes and what they mean. They are selling, just do it. So when we tire laces, we're thinking, Man, these are the same shoes that Michael Jordan wears. FireWire though. I can run faster and jump higher.

Now the reason that like you changed charge $200 instead of starbury shoe surging $15 is because of that story. Is the shoes 15 times better than starbury shoes. No. But is perceived that way. Even though 90% of the materials are exactly the same. This is because we buy stories, not products.

Have you ever heard of TOMS shoes? If you go to their website The first thing you see is with every shoe you purchase one shoe goes to a child in need. That's a very strange way to introduce a for profit company. Then you click on their company information. And the first thing you see is while traveling to Argentina in 2006 Tom Founder Blake makowski witnessed the hardships of children without shoes and wanting to do something to help he founded TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a new pair of shoes for a child and wow, that's interesting. So then you scroll down their homepage a little bit more and you see they've given away 75 million shoes in 10 years.

That's a good story. And guess how much this company is worth today? well over half a billion dollars. That's pretty good for a nonprofit company disguised as a for profit. So how does a 29 year old from Texas build a half billion dollar company? He builds it on a story.

By building a story he creates the possibility of a cult like following like telling such a you Nice Pacific story Blake calls out, this is who we are. This is what we're about. And people here and they either turn their noses or they go, you're just like me. They become evangelists for TOMS shoes. It's no longer a shoe. It's a cause.

It's an identity. You're not shopping. You're saving the world. Now you're helping the child in need. It's a true story. That changes the way we value the brand.

The same Toms shoe principle applies to every luxury brand. So how can Chanel get away charging $5,000 for a handbag, a handbag, when everybody else in the industry is charging 100 bucks? or How come the cheapest us beat up Rolex will still cost you $750 Why are people fanatical about Harley? And not Honda? You know, nobody has 100 tattoo. Because Harley, Rolex and Chanel all have a cult like story.

But here's the bad news to tell a cult life story. To get that sort of brand. You will have raving fans. But to get them You must be willing to ignore and even offend the 80% majority. So, in fact, your goal is to turn away that 80% majority because your goal is to find the 20% of people that you really can serve. That's your target audience.

So Harley Davidson doesn't serve Kevin Breen. And Honda is just fine with me. So when a Harley Davidson you know when I see a Harley Davidson ad, it doesn't speak to me I'm not for them. But by Harley being all Harley, it serves me because I realized you're not for me, you know, we don't waste time, you know, on each other. But by Harley being all Harley, it serves their target audience, because they see the same ad. And they say, You're just like me, and they get a Harley tattoo.

So this is really good marketing. If you think your product is for everybody, you don't have a brand. You have a land. So how do we apply this? You can't walk into your client's office and say, Hey, we're the best thing and you should really, really go with us, you know, but you can tell a story. And if it's a good story, a story that fits the facts and their worldview.

Then they will, they will turn to their boss and they'll tell them this story. Your job is done. You don't sell a product, you sell a story. So here are some simple ways to do that. If they ask about your company, tell them your origin story. Don't say we're a shoe company founded in 2006.

Say, in 2006, I was in Argentina and I saw all these kids without shoes and me. I wanted to do something. So I started with TOMS shoes. Don't tell them what you do. Tell them why you do it. If they ask about your product, that we sell great shoes, tell them these shoes were inspired by the Argentinian Art bugattis shoe design.

Tell them the blood, the sweat the tears that went into making this product. So if they asked, say how the product will help them, don't say I'm sure you'll be very satisfied with this. product. No tell them a story about what others have said about the product. But testimonies with real pictures on your website, the quarter videos of what they're saying about how it's changed their life. Your job is to make them appropriately revere you, your company and your product for what it really is.

And there's no bullet points that can do that for you. Only a story