There is a scene in the film Spartacus where all the men in the crowd stand up and claim to be him – to protect the real one.
In the film it is a quite poignant scene showing people standing solidly behind their leader and supporting him.
But in business that same approach is damaging rather than supportive.
This is particularly true if you are in business and go to networking events.
We all tend to work in very crowded markets. There are very few of us who can claim that what we do or that the services we provide are unique.
I do a lot of networking and I see this all the time. There are a great many people from the same sectors or business types throughout the network.
At these meetings it is usual to go around the room and say something about yourself and your business.
Most people tend to say what they do and list the services they offer.
That’s pretty standard – and incredibly boring.
If there happen to be two, three or even four people from the same sector it’s even more boring.
I was at a meeting where there were three financial advisors. They all sat together and spoke one after the other. The first listed all of his services. The second did the same with a minor variation.
The third guy got up and said : “I do what they do” – and sat down.
There’s the Spartacus Syndrome working overtime.
People make their buying decisions with the bit of the brain that deals with emotion.
“I love that house, car, dress.”
Then the bit of the brain that deals with rational thinking will come up with all the reasons it make sense to buy it.
How then do we make that emotional connection in a short space of time?
Story telling is your most powerful tool. We all love stories. We will listen to stories.
Let me illustrate.
I was talking to a man at a networking meeting who made videos. When I asked him why he did what he did he told me that he had a passion for it, he loved it and that he was very good.
Standard stuff.
But when I dug a little deeper this is what he told me.
“When I was a little kid I grew up with my dad having a mental health problem. It was embarrassing for him and the sort of problem that meant people didn’t take him seriously. But he was a clever man and he wrote and published technical books. But it hurt me that as a kid people just didn’t take my dad seriously.
“That has stayed with me and now when I am working for my clients I want to make damn sure that people take them seriously.”
Wow! What a powerful and emotional story that should be told. Speaks volumes about him, his passion and his motivation.
Everyone has a story. In fact everyone has a bank of stories.
Don’t let your fear of speaking stand in the way of telling them. Set yourself apart from the crowd.
Or you could just stand up and say: “I’m Spartacus.”
