The stories you tell show how contented or sad you are. If you are happy and satisfied with your lot, it will show in your stories. Same way, if you are not happy. “In your presence, I am content”… This is a phrase from a praise and worship song in Pentecostal fellowships.
If there is no “spirit”, “presence,” and “content,” there is no impact; that maybe why many professionals are suffering today because their persons, products and services do not command these attributes in the marketplace. That means their employees and customers, or clients are never contented.
When this kind of condition prevails, you cannot sell. That is when some corporate bodies embark on sales promotion or PR campaigns to sell. How contented is your business? Any good stories to tell? The day you stop telling good stories that are real, about your business, it means something is wrong. Your stories could be basically anything. You could check at e-GoldFax website, their services and narrate stories regarding that or anything that you deem fit.
You have heard of corporate culture, corporate image, vision, governance, and strategy. So many, corporate this, corporate that. They are real. What about corporate spirit and presence? They are hardly mentioned, but they are real too. And the earlier you think about their nature and application, the better your stories will become, and the better your business.
How contented is your business? Many products in the marketplace only irritate; they make many stakeholders unhappy. These products do not tell good stories about themselves and hardly provide customer satisfaction. Anyone you make unhappy detests your presence. Married men and women will confirm this. And whenever a husband stays away from home, denies his wife and children his presence, there is trouble in that marriage.
When such a case goes to marriage counselors for “arbitration,” what they first try to find out is: Is the man unhappy or happy (contented) in his home? What is driving or pulling him away? Is madam the cause of his absence? And, what can we do to re-establish his presence in his home?
It is same for your business. Are you happy and contented with what you are doing? Are you just working for the pay? If you are not contended, time to quit, and embrace something you have passion for. Passion goes with contentment. Whenever people are not happy, there is no contentment, no presence, and no demonstration of product power or increasing sales in the marketplace.
If your employees are not contented, your business cannot grow. They will transfer their aggression and unhappiness to customers and kill sales. A satisfied and contended worker guarantees satisfied customers. If your investors or regulators are angry, then your business is in trouble.
If there is no presence (visibility), right spirit on contentment, there can be no impact in the marketplace. That is what positioning is all about. Please do an audit of your professional presence or product positioning in the marketplace, then you will understand why you not making impact. If you are not visible, no one will buy from you. If your spirit is bad, it will choke your business atmosphere. And if you do not have any content, you cannot make anybody contented.
So how contended is your business? At this stage, it goes beyond whether you are happy or sad, and is now more of how rich is your product offering? Is your business all container and no content, too bad.
If your business is more of container (quantity) and less of content (quality), it means you can barely make your customers contented. Content is consumed and brings about contentment, and lasting patronage. Not so with container. It ages, suffers from wear and tear, and causes environmental litter. But the good thing about container is that it carries content. Once it takes content to its destination, its job ceases. Every content needs a container to preserve and display it.
What your customers really want is your content. This is what makes them contented. John P. Kotter, a retired Harvard Business School professor says, “It’s not just in your business model. It’s in people’s hearts.”
You have heard it from an authority. Are you in peoples’ hearts? How contended is your business? Your storytelling will help you to deliver good content to your customers.
Eric Okeke is a storyteller, editor, business writer, motivational speaker and author of the best selling book: I Want a Husband. He is one of Nigeria’s most experienced financial journalists. He has published several articles in local and foreign publications and in websites such as http://www.ezinearticles.com, www.ezinearticles.com and www.writingcareer.com. He is currently running Infomedia Company, a media consulting and information marketing company. Visit his blog at http://sallywantsahusband.blogspot.com
Click here to return to the index of stories for Infosynthesis
