How To Earn A Gold Medal In Business

The oldest, youngest, first, last, best. Every Olympian has his or her own unique story.

And without them, the world’s biggest sporting spectacle just wouldn’t be the same.

Think it’s really just about running, swimming, cycling, etc.?

Here’s a simple test you can do…

Watch one evening of Olympics television coverage with the sound turned down (and head for the kitchen to fix a snack when the “up-close-and-personal” backstory videos play).

You’ll quickly discover that without the athletes’ stories, the events are really nothing more than an almost mind-numbing repetition of practically-identical competitors racing, jumping, diving, whatever.

Now turn the sound back up (I know you really couldn’t keep that experiment up for more than just a few minutes), and pay attention to what the announcers are saying during the events, and especially before and after them.

That’s right – they’re telling stories. Stories filled with emotion and drama, that draw us in and make us unable to tear ourselves away from what would otherwise be a rather – dare I say – boring day and/or night of seemingly endless heats and obscure “sports” that less than 1% of Americans ever watch or pay any attention to other than once every four years.

I’ve managed to avoid watching the basically non-stop multi-channel, multi-media stream of Olympic coverage over these two weeks. But when I did tune in, planning to watch just a few minutes and then be on my merry way, I found myself unable to avoid being drawn in to the carefully-manufactured drama, and powerless to turn away from watching events I have almost no interest in, being contested by people I’ve never heard of before (99% of whom I will never hear of again).

I found myself shedding a tear for the young girl who overcame all the odds to realize her life-long dream of just competing in an Olympic event, and rooting for the young man to complete his comeback from heartbreaking injury and/or defeat four years earlier.

That’s right. I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t help but be drawn in to the meticulously-orchestrated, tape-delayed Olympics television coverage – not because of the sports themselves, regardless of the speed, strength, agility and power on display, but simply because the personal backstories of the competitors was incredibly compelling.

So what’s this got to do with you and your small business?

Everything.

If you are struggling to find new customers, or keep the ones you have…

If you are “stuck” at a certain level in your business, frustrated at your lack of growth…

If you are wondering if you’ll even survive until this difficult economy turns around…

Then you need to craft a more compelling STORY about you and/or your business.

If you’re like most of the thousands of small business owners I’ve helped over the years, your response at this point is something like “My story? I don’t have any dramatic ‘story’ – I’m just a small business owner.”

Well, here’s the good news…

Everyone has a story.

Every small business owner can relate a compelling “origin story” of why they do what they do and/or how much they care about their customers.

Your job – if you want your business to succeed despite a lousy economy or any other force that’s against you – is to craft your story in the proper way that practically compels your ideal prospects to want to do business with you, to make yourself “larger than life.”

Because as a small business owner, that’s what you are: A hero.

That’s right. You provide goods and/or services that benefit your community. You pay suppliers. You pay your taxes. You make payroll — sometimes at the expense of paying yourself. You’re part of the backbone of America, willing to take enormous risk and make tremendous personal sacrifices to make our country a better place.

And that’s a whole lot more important than just being able to run fast or dunk a basketball.

Now stop being bashful and modest, and start telling everyone in your target market just how much of a superstar you are. Their enjoyment of your quality products and/or services and your financial success both depend on it!

Looking for help telling your client-attracting story? Our SSSMarketingUniversity.com FREE test drive will help you put yours together and use it to get more and better customers, clients or patients than you ever have before.