Session 1
Becoming a Marketing
Master
Secrets of the Super Strategist and how to
Build your Core Story
Areas Covered in Session 1:
1.1
The 3 Types of Executives
1.2
Deploying Your Strategies and Tactics
1.3
The Stadium Pitch
1.4
What Business Are You Really In?
1.5
Stop Selling and Start Educating
1.6
Becoming the Expert in your Market
1.7
Reset the Buying Criteria to Surpass Your Competition
1.8
Refining Your Stadium Pitch
1.9
The Smoking Gun – 4 Criteria of an Effective Core Story
1.10
The 4 Rules of a Slogan
1.11
The 4 Rules to Building a Killer Slogan
This Workbook is provided to support each of the areas described above. It is
important that you take notes as you watch each video and to follow and conduct
the workshops provided for you and your team, so you can begin implementing what
you learn.
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1
1.1: 3 Types of Executives
Every executive is either strategic, tactical of a blend of both. The key
objective is to clearly define which you are.
There are 3 types of executives:
 Strategic Executive – .8% - Bigger thinker, but not interested in focusing
in on the details. Visionary…

Tactical Executive – 99.0% - They focus on the details, daily activities
and tactics to run the operation, but have no clear strategy.

Strategic / Tactical Executive - .2% - This is the rare strategist, who
implements their ideas and tactics with piercing effectiveness.
What is a Tactic?
 Advertising
 A sales call
 Your website
 An email to prospects or clients
 A trade show
 An article written about you (PR)
 Your brochure
 Customer service
What is a strategy?
 The long range goal, the overall impact.
 What is the ultimate accomplishment, or ultimate position you want in the
market?
 What is the ultimate perception you would like your clients to have about your
company?
NOTES:
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Workshop #1: Think this through!
What is the ultimate accomplishment, or ultimate position you want in the market?
(Focused on you.)
What is the ultimate perception you would like your clients to have about your
company? (Focused on them.)
NOTES:
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1.2: Deploying Strategies and Tactics
Learn how adding ONE strategic objective can increase sales by 600%.
Strategy: More Refined Definitions
 How do your tactical efforts support and help you accomplish that position?
 What are the strategic objectives of each tactical effort?
 How many strategic objectives can you accomplish per tactic?
NOTES:
Answer each question “Yes or No”, as it pertains to the strategic objectives you want
to achieve with each prospect or client?
Strategic Objective
Would you like to be more trusted?
Do you want to be respected?
Do you want to have deep credibility?
Do you want to be perceived as an expert?
Do you want to create brand loyalty?
Would you like to preempt the competition and solidify your position?
Position yourself so that price was not a factor?
Do you want to generate referrals?
Motivate the client/prospect to take action now?
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Yes / No
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Workshop #2: Sell the Company
What could you say about your company every time you interact with a
client?
Where would you put that in the communication process?
Workshop #3: Creating Your Company Strategy
Write one answer for each question as it applies to tactics that will allow you
to achieve your strategic objectives?
What would make you more trusted?
Respected?
Have deep credibility?
Be perceived as an expert?
Get more brand loyalty?
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Preemptive positioning? (Not buy from anyone else.)
Pricing comparisons dealt with?
Referrals?
Motivate action now?
NOTES:
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1.3: The Stadium Pitch
A strategy for both attracting clients faster and in greater numbers. This is
the foundation of the “Core Story Concept”.
Imagine you could present in a massive stadium to every potential client
you have. What would you do?
Workshop #4: What is the title of your Stadium Pitch?
It should be focused on THEM, not you. It should be something that rivets their
attention and keeps them in their seat.
A great stadium pitch will drive your potential buyers up the buying pyramid….
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Education Based Marketing
“People will come to you and stay longer to hear something of value to THEMN, then
they ever will just to be sold to.”
Chet Holmes
NOTES:
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1.4: What Business Are You Really In?
Develop the broadest possible view of your business, focusing on the
ultimate benefit for your client.
Developing a Clear View for Your Business!
Basic View
Strategic
View
Broadest
Possible
View
NOTES:
Workshop #5: What business are you in?
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Define your business in the broadest possible sense. What could be an ultimate
benefit from doing business with you?
Basic View
Strategic View
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Broadest Possible View
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1.5: Stop Selling and Start Educating
From your Core Story that all the other things that you will utilize to educate
your prospect will spin off from.
The key is to think strategically, before you operate tactically!
“Market data is way more motivational than product data.”
Chet Holmes
NOTES:
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1.6: Become the Expert in Your Market
You must be an expert on everything around your product or service.
Workshop #6: Positioning yourself as the Expert
What could you do to help your clients be more successful?
NOTES:
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1.7: Rest the Buying Criteria, Surpass Your Competition
Leveraging the power of market data to change the buying criteria from
one based on product and price, to one based on education and need.
A STRATEGIST is an expert in their industry, who educates potential clients
and leads them to their products / services as the most obvious solution.
NOTES:
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1.8: Refining Your Stadium Pitch
So you can get 10x more responses from the money you’re already
spending.
Market data can build a serious case for almost any product BEFORE you
even try to sell it. The key is finding that “market data” that supports the
NEED for your product or service. www.EmpireResearchGroup.com
Workshop #7: Write some educational offers
Knowing that you might have to get some research to be highly effective at this
strategy: Write some education-based offers.
Workshop #8: Shift the Criteria
What’s the current criteria and what SHOULD it be?
Current Buying Criteria?
What Should It Be?
NOTES:
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1.9: The Smoking Gun
The 4 criteria for an effective Core Story.
Market data does many, many things, among them:
 Positions you as an expert and shifts the power.
 Increase interest far beyond product data, so it captures more buyers easier.
 This is the “Core Story Model”.
This sales model changes everything!
CORE STORY will dramatically increase your ability to identify, pursue, develop and
close a whole lot more business.
NOTES:
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1.10: The 4 Rules of a Slogan
Every market and every business has a series of buyers that they consider
their BEST buyers -- meaning those who have the ability to purchase far
more of your product or service, than the average buyer.
Workshop #9: Buying Criteria
What is the current buying criteria in your industry and what should it be?
The 4 Rules of a Slogan
• A slogan should describe the product or service (unless the name describes the
product or service).
•
A slogan should contain a benefit.
•
A slogan positions your company above the competition.
•
Ideally, a slogan sets up buying criteria in which your product or service is the
most logical choice.
Workshop #9: Develop Your Slogan
Develop a slogan for your company that integrates the 4 rules of a slogan.
NOTES:
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1.11: Building a Killer Core Story
The step-by-step process.
Building a killer core story or stadium pitch, step by step.
 Even if you do not present your core story to prospects/clients, you
need to build one as the ultimate training tool to set your business
apart from the competition.
 Areas covered (pre-sell the HECK out of the education)
 Begin with a great promise.
 Start with the big picture market information.
 Create NEED!
 Massive pain. What’s the bad news? Does not all have to DIRECTLY
relate to your product/service.
 Set the buying criteria with more data – NO SELLING at all.
 The five things to look for in (your type of product or service). STILL NO
SELLING!
 Action required to address “Need” and eliminate “Pain”.
 Introduce your business.
 Present the “Offer” or “Call to Action”.
Summary
 You want every prospect to think of having your product as a LOT
more important.
 Heighten the interest and importance of your product (Market data
will do this).
 Motivate your buyers to purchase more and more often.
 Preempt your competition at every turn.
 Create massive brand loyalty.
 Your strategic objective is to make sure they never want to buy from
anyone else.
NOTES:
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Additional Workshop: Develop your Core Story and Stadium
Pitch
Begin with a great promise (what’s the title?)
Areas covered (Pre-sells the HECK out of the education.)
Start with big picture market info (Write down some things you want to have
researched.)
Massive pain. More items you want to have researched – failure rate, competitive
landscape: What’s scary to your clients? Research things over time.
Set buying criteria with more data – (What do you want to be teaching them?)
The five things to look for in your type of product or service. (STILL NO SELLING.)
Now what would you say about your product or service?
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Put your slogan here.
NOTES:
Summary Workshop:
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How can you heighten the interest and importance of your product? (Market data
will do this.)
How can you motivate your buyers to purchase more or more often?
How can you preempt or disempower the competition at every turn?
How can you create massive brand loyalty? What are your “strategic objectives” to
make sure they never want to buy from anyone but you?
How can you become the most respected?
How can you become the most popular?
How can you become the most sought out for information?
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How can you become the most educational?
How can you become the best resource in your industry? (Placement service,
business or consumer resources.)
How can you generate referrals?
Motivate action now?
How can you get more leads into the pipeline faster or faster appointments?
Superior Access Vehicle: An approach that gives you superior access to your
accounts.
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What’s FREE, and easier to sell?
What educational tools for YOUR clients can you use?
What could you sell that would be easier to sell as an entry-point?
NOTES:
Bonus Workshop:
Create three to five reasons why a client should buy from your company over one of
your competitors.
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Features tell, benefits sell
Describe your company in a way that has a benefit for the client.
Now take a few minutes and write down as many additional benefits of dealing with
you as you can. NOT features…benefits.
How to Build a Core Story: The Short Version
The following is a succinct description of how to build a core story. However, if you’ve
skipped the videos that describe this, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. It is well
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laid-out on the videos, but here is a cheat sheet for those who’ve watched those
videos.
Your core story should contain the following:
Part 1. It should begin with information of general interest to your audience. Best to
start with facts that make people say “wow”. For example, we just built one for a
company that sells home protection training. Their core story begins by showing how
in the 1950’s (days of Ozzie and Harriet), there was minor crime and almost no home
invasion. The next panel jumps to a slide that shows the amazing rise in crime in
America (scary, by the way).
So, start your core story with information that is interesting to your target audience
without, for even a second, discussing what you do and what you sell.
Part 2. The information should then give trend, statistic or data bits after data points,
all of interest to your target audience. This information should be bad news to them.
You want them shaking their heads in displeasure at the myriad of challenges they
face. For example, in UBMS we share a core story that shows the decline of health in
our entire society. The scariest point was that male sperm count has declined 95% in
potency in the past 70 years and the amount of woman infertility is up 265,000%
(really scary). The human race, at this same rate of decline of fertility, will be extinct
within just a few generations. This information is a direct set up for WHY this has
happened and then this particular company has some very important solutions.
So what trends face your industry? You’d be amazed at how powerful this can be
when viewed over time. For example, if we look at
sperm count today, it’s just a blind figure. It’s when you
look at what it was in 1929 that you literally fear the
“What’s going on in
distinction of modern man. For another perspective, if
your industry that
you look at crime over the last ten years, it’s declined.
But if you look at it since 1960, you see that home
would really motivate
invasion has risen 600%. What’s going on in your industry
that buyer to take a
that would really motivate that buyer to take a serious
serious look at your
look at your solution?
As a side note, Empire Research Group can do this
solution?”
research for you. Check out the Chet Holmes
– Chet Holmes
International website (www.ChetHolmes.com) and click
the Core Story hyperlink to find out how research can
triple closing ratios. Alternatively, you can call us at (845)
789-4178 or email us at [email protected] for a free Core Story
Consultation.
Part 3. Now that you have done a righteous setup and have your prospect(s)
salivating for a solution, you have a section that says: “Here’s What You Can Do
About Some of These Challenges.”
If you’re a construction company trying to get builders to use you over your
competition, your front part might have shown the market you serve and how much
building has gone on. Then it might have gone into costs, labor problems, laws,
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lawsuits, etc., all areas of pain for builders. It would then segue into some solutions;
some might not directly have to do with you. So you might say, “Three Solutions One
Can Pursue”. And two of them are a single panel with a suggestion from articles you
might have read/found during the research phase. But one of those three things
says: “You Can Choose Your Partners More Carefully.” And then you segue into “The
Four Things To Look For In A Construction Partner”.
This section is NOT a blatant pitch, but rather a section in which you “set up the
buying criteria” in your favor (explained in Chet’s session on Strategy). You’d have a
panel on each of the things they should look for and each is a righteous set up for
you and how you go about your services.
Then your final panels show how you fulfill all the criteria you just set up. This is the
ONLY part where you get to present YOUR company. The other 90% of what you
present is to serve the viewer, not you. But if you’ve done a great job, believe me,
you’ll serve yourself big time.
Begin with a title page that promises some wonderful educational experience “The
Five Things Everyone Should Know About Health in America” or, “The Five Most
Dangerous Trends Facing Every (your industry target here)”. The second panel is titled
“Areas Covered”. That’s where you pre-sell like a champion. REALLY make your
prospects want it.
End with a summary, two summary pages. The first one summarizes the data that
leads them to your conclusion. The second one shows how your company provides
the solutions.
Then you have a final ending panel that is your USP, as defined in Chet’s session.
Good luck. And remember, Empire Research Group can do this for you now and
probably much better than most can do it themselves. Why? Because they’ve built
hundreds of these and they are highly trained and efficient at it.
Good luck. If you build it, they will buy!
Research
If you really want to dominate your market, the first thing you should do is conduct
research. For example, when we had a calendar company as a client, we helped
them discover that their market was shrinking, hence changing their strategy from
going after small gift shops to going after large chain retailers like Wal-Mart. So point
one, you want to look at the size of your market over the last several decades. The
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United States Census Bureau keeps outstanding records of every industry. Number of
units, employees and gross sales, and the data can go back into the 50’s. You get
some great “wows” (explained on videos) when you look at data over several
decades.
Research Some Items You’d Like to Know – Just to Make Yourself an Expert
Size of Market – Annual billings for the entire industry. For example, if you’re in real
estate, you want to know how many houses are sold each year and how much
money is spent in this area. This positions you as an expert. So for any industry, you
want to find out how many units sold, or how much spent, etc.…
You also want to find out how many brokers there are. How many people employed,
etc.?
You also want to find out how these numbers have
changed over the last few decades. It is in THIS part of
“So, if you can get ten the research that you find the “wow’s” as described both
years of that particular in “Strategy Versus Tactics” and in “Effective Presenting”.
industry, you can find Major trends? Most trade journals that cover an industry
do an “annual wrap up” on the industry. What they don’t
correlations that literally do is compare that data over the years. So if you can
make your client say get ten years of that particular industry, you can find
correlations that literally make your clients say “wow” out
‘wow’ out loud.”
loud. We had one client where we did some research
– Chet Holmes and then laid out for them all these trends that they had
never noticed, even though all the data came from their
trade journals that they read religiously. When you’re
looking to make correlations, it changes perspective and gives you superior weapons
to your competitors.
The bad news. Ultimately, bad news motivates much more than good news. What is
going on in your industry that is painful? Are companies going out of business? Is
competition out of control, etc.?
You have a sense of your own industry; so can think through other areas that would
be telling. What other areas are there that you’d want to research? Market data
arms you over your competitors. They never stop to work ON the business and this
gives you a superior advantage.
Even if you’re in a retail setting, know the details, you’ll find the trends. For example, if
you’re in the jewelry store business, find out how much is spent on each area, how
has it changed over the years, how many jewelry stores are there, etc. Knowing your
market better than your competition will give you some surprising advantages.
But for now, RIGHT now, list some areas that you would like to have researched:
Promise…More guidance / stimulation to come.
Core Story Elements
Name at least five pain points that would motivate your buyers to become more
interested in your products or services. Be clear, this is the step where you are trying
to get their attention. Motivating them to buy ONCE you have their attention is the
next step. For example, if you were selling to Foundries, you might say: “Half of all
foundries have gone out of business in the past few decades. Learn why and how to
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avoid it.” Another example: If you were selling training programs to HR executives,
you might say: “98% of all HR executives admit that they’d like to do a better job on
retention. Here’s a superior method that’s totally painless.”
Both of these statements, by the way, are true. To discover these things, we
researched the market on behalf of our clients. This step is to force you to think
through how market data might help you find the pain points that really GRAB the
attention of your buyers, helping to open the doors more easily for you. This is
thoroughly explained in “Strategy Versus Tactics.” At this point, we want you THINK
ING before you deploy.
List more pain points/research items that might really grab the attention of your
buyers.
What measurable data, facts, comparisons, illustrations, construction, performance
levels and buying criteria do you want / need to know and include? Where will you
get it (e.g., research, vendors, analyzing data, etc.)?
Name at least five pain points that would really motivate your buyers to buy faster.
(The first exercise was to find ways to “grab attention.”) Now that you have their
attention, how do you motivate them to take action faster?
Describe, define, name the problem, challenge, question or issue for which your
company, product, or service is the only viable solution. Explain why you alone can
do it for them.
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Name at least five pain points that would motivate your buyers to buy more (this is
different than faster).
Name five pleasures the prospect / client should want to attain, achieve, experience
or get from your product, service or company.
Future Pace – What it will be like when they have your product device implemented
and performing in your client’s life or business. List at least five expectations.
Name at least 10 more things you want to (or already have) researched in order to
support the previous four sections.
Name five pleasures the prospect / client should want to attain, achieve, experience
or get from your product, service or company.
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Now write a compelling title for your core story.
Now outline the sections in your core story (no more than five).
Write 12 headlines for your product / service / company that explains the biggest
single payoff, benefit or result for your product, service or company. Go at it from
every angle.
Write five ways your product / service adds specific, measurable benefit or value to
your client.
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Write ten advantages you have over your competition, tangible or intangible.
Make a list of all the specific, direct and indirect competition you have for the
problem your product / service / company solves.
Now tell the five things everyone should look for in a product or service like yours.
Without directly referencing your product or service, you’re setting the market’s
buying criteria here, so these should be things you do that your competition doesn’t,
or that they haven’t delineated. For example, if you’re a real estate broker you may
find that all your competitors help guide the homeowner through the process AFTER
the sale, but few real estate brokers make this part of their presentation in order to get
the listing in the first place).
Provide five metaphors or similes that analyze or illustrate what else having your
product or service in their lives is like.
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Stadium Pitch: If we could gather all your customers in a stadium and give you an
opportunity to present to them all at once, what would you say? You can begin to
see how much stronger your stadium pitch will be when you have hard data that can
rivet the attention of your audience from the start. Outline your stadium pitch. This
should be much stronger now that you’ve done all these other exercises:
Now say it in a single sentence. This is your slogan/strategic position, the statement
that goes under your logo every time.
BONUS SECTION:
INCREASING YOUR CLOSING RATIO THREE FOLD.
Here’s how to build a KILLER presentation that literally triples sales
(with tons of proof and examples below)
by Chet Holmes
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Imagine I could put you in a giant stadium right now as the presenter, and the entire
audience is completely comprised of your most perfect prospects. Are you ready
right now? Could you walk out on that stage and present to every one of them and
do it perfectly? Now before you say yes, let me make the stakes higher. Before you
walk out there, the audience is told: “You had to come, but you don’t have to stay. If
this person (you) fails to keep your interest, you can simply get up and leave.”
Now let me even further complicate the situation by telling you the good news and
the bad news.
The good news: At any given time 3% of your prospects are currently in the market to
buy your product or service and looking right now to get it. Another 6-7% is open to it,
but not currently looking. The other 90% is divided into three nearly equal categories:
A) Not really thinking about right now.
B) Think they’re not interested (but might be, if you did a good job at presenting to
them).
C) They KNOW they’re not interested.
So let’s say you sell brooms. And let’s say it’s a
“At any given time, 3% of
fantastic broom. But remember 90% of the
audience isn’t in the market for your broom at this
your prospects are currently
time. At least they think they’re not interested. That
in the market to buy your
means if you walk out there and start right off
product or service.”
saying how great your brooms are, 90% of your
audience is going to get up and leave.
– Chet Holmes
So you need to open your stadium pitch (as I call
it), with what I call “wow’s.” This means that all
great presentations start off with information that
makes your prospects say: “wow, I didn’t know that.” The focus must be on THEM and
things of interest to THEM, not you. So rule number one of a great presentation is that
it must be focused on the prospect and not on you (at least not initially).
I’ve built presentations that increase closing ratios from one out of ten to eight out of
ten. I’ve even built presentations that dramatically increase your ability to get in front
of prospects in the first place. How? Let’s bring that stadium pitch down to its most
practical application; Offer prospects something of value outside your product or
service, something important to THEM.
Let me give you a case in point. I have a client who sells employee benefits and
insurance to companies. His sales team was used to calling up a client and saying
“We want to come and talk to you about your health care benefits”. Since 97% of
prospects THINK they are happy with their current broker, that’s a really hard call to
make. However, when they created a presentation that pointed out “The Five
Dangers Facing All Employers and How Knowing What Those DANGERS Are, Can
Dramatically Reduce Costs and Increases Profits”, it made not just the sale go better,
but also the getting the appointment go much better.
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Meaning that the information that is of value to THEM like, “Five Dangers Facing You
In Your Business”, creates what I call a “superior access vehicle.”
Here’s What You Can Do About Some of These Challenges
Another client of mine sells telephone systems. Prior to the learning curve in this
article, they’d call prospects and ask the prospect “We want to come and talk to
you about getting a new telephone system”. Needless to say, the appointment
setting process was slow going. However, when they built THE ULTIMATE PR
ESENTATION, one that offered (something like) “How You’re Wasting Money In Five
Major Areas of Your Voice and Data Spending”, suddenly, they went from getting
three appointments per week (with four salespeople trying all day) to getting 30
appointments per week. This effort is already tripling their sales in a single year.
“There’s no situation
where one of these
presentations,
properly prepared,
can’t
So rule number one, again, for building a killer presentation, is
to have information that is OF VALUE to your prospects even
if they have never heard about your products or services.
Information that is above and beyond the product or service
you are offering will be considered extremely valuable to
them.
overcome
I had another client that was trying to sell law books to
any challenge you lawyers. Over the years, they had been reduced to talking to
just the librarians in these law firms. And since the lawyers are
may be facing.”
the ones using the law books, their ability to get new product
– Chet Holmes into the market became severely hamstrung.
We helped them build a presentation that laid out “The Five
Most Dangerous Trends Facing All Major Law Firms Today”,
which resulted in meetings with entire committees of lawyers. The data was excellent,
legitimate and packed with bad news. Oh, did I mention the part about bad news?
A great presentation is loaded with bad news to your prospects. Why?
Because bad news motivates. We’d get in front of a group of lawyers and show
them that lawyers keep growing, but the annual billings are flat (less money per
lawyer): That their firms would be sued (something like 44% of large law firms will be
sued by unhappy or dissatisfied clients). That the case law from which they must find
their information is out of control now, with more than THREE MILLION cases to choose
from when trying to find a single precedent. This presentation was packed with bad
news. Much of this news had nothing to do with law books. Keep in mind, it didn’t
matter. Bad news motivates, even if it is unrelated.
Your prospect, when viewing a great deal of bad news, will suddenly feel the need
to take some action. Any action they take will make them feel better. In the case of
the law book company, every lawyer in the room wanted more information or
wanted to purchase the law books outright, after they saw the presentation.
Now don’t take this too far. The more the data in the presentation sets up a need for
your product or service, the higher your closing ratio. So, in the case of the law firm,
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33
the massive case law to be studied created a need for law books that already
studied that for them. Plus, we tied the litigation against lawyers directly to the
massive case law, so that seemingly unrelated pieces of data, pieced together with
other data made the bad news more excruciating.
So rule number two to building a killer presentation is that the data should “set up a
buying criteria”, in which your product or service becomes the most logical choice.
When my telephone client laid out all the ways most companies were wasting
money on their voice and data spending, it made the prospects open their arms and
invite my client to look at how they might help them. This almost always ended up
being a new system that would help them save money in many different ways.
What are your client’s current buying criteria? Is it price? Easy to overcome with the
right presentation. Is it that they want to buy only from the biggest provider? Easy to
overcome with the right presentation. Is it that they don’t think they even need what
it is that you sell? Easy to overcome with the right presentation. Data can motivate
your prospects in all and any of the situations mentioned.
I have a client that is a distributor in a market where they once had only four main
competitors. In the past several years, many other types of companies have added
my client’s type of product as an add-on. Since it’s not their main product, these
hundreds of new competitors can sell it even cheaper than my client can. Result? My
client was in big trouble and fading fast.
Presentation to the Rescue
We used data, compelling and riveting data to show that these competitors didn’t
know anything about this particular industry and as a result, in the long run, poor
choices in purchasing were going to cost their penny wise and pound foolish buyers
a LOT more money later. The presentation set up a buying criteria where price
became secondary to expertise. Will that work with you? I do not know. But I DO
know this. There’s no situation where one of these presentations, properly prepared,
can’t overcome any challenge you may be facing.
Declining market? Price is the main motivator? Inability to get appointments? Inability
to get to see the higher decisions makers? All of these challenges can be met with a
fantastic presentation.
The Core Story
I call these “Your Core Story,” or your stadium pitch and
they serve another extremely valuable purpose. I had one
client who used to take four months to train a new person
on all the subtleties of why a prospect should buy their
product. The Core Story used data as the motivator and
suddenly, this core story could train an outsider how to
REALLY sell this product and in a single pass through the
information. So a great core story makes for a fantastic
new hire training tool.
The Masters Series ©Chet Holmes International 2014
“Studies show that
visuals nearly triple
the communication
experience.”
– Chet Holmes
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34
How to Build a Core Story
Let me tell you, it isn’t easy. But greatness never is. If you want to be the ultimate
player in your market, you have to take the time to carefully craft one of these, using
data as a powerful access vehicle as well as an urgent motivator for your otherwise
slow moving clients to make faster and more urgent decisions. Before you read the
steps, and become discouraged, let me tell you that there is a group that simply
does this for you.
You do nothing but answer 60 to 90 minutes worth of questions about your industry
and your products and four to six weeks later, voila; they come back to you with a
KILLER presentation filled with poignant and significant research about your market.
Research that your client will find fascinating, research that is compelling enough to
get you more meetings, critical research that is highly motivating to get your client to
want to buy faster and research that, hopefully, in some way, “sets up a buying
criteria” where YOU are the MOST logical choice. YOU are the ONLY one these
prospects want to buy from.
Four to six weeks later, they will come back with not just the research, not just the
facts, but visually arresting graphics. Yes, a KILLER presentation has graphics on every
panel. Vivid visuals, photo’s that triple the impact of your words, graphs that visually
illustrate your points, pie charts that point out their problems, and dollar signs in all the
right places to show them how you help them save, earn or increase some area of
their world.
85% of the information in the brain is taken in through the eyes. Studies show that
visuals nearly triple the communication experience. So don’t even think about
presenting anything to anyone, if you’re not going to use visual aids.
In any event, this group does a turnkey job. You give them an interview and they turn
around and give you an awesome stadium pitch, fully illustrated with your logo on
every panel. If you want to know how you might use one of these and you’re not
sure, it’s certainly free to talk to this group.
Empire’s Research and Core Story building services began many years ago when I
was building these core stories for my billion dollar clients. Clients would pay me
$80,000 to build these and I would commission out all the research to an elite team of
top researchers. I would then sit around on the floor (too much data to put on a
desk) with piles of the raw data all around me and begin to see where I could piece
together all these disconnected pieces of raw data to create the “wow’s” or find the
“bad news” that would motivate—at the same time as position my clients. This
process alone is critical and difficult. In one case we were building a presentation for
a client who wanted to target day spas.
The researchers got me the numbers and I saw that there were 16,000 day spas in the
U.S. But to my utter shock, another piece of disconnected data showed that there
were maybe 200 of them only 15 years ago. Bad news if you’re a day spa. Your
market is gruelingly competitive. Two pieces of data over a 15-year period put
together on a single panel to equal bad news!
The Masters Series ©Chet Holmes International 2014
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35
After I finished building the raw data into final product, I would then pass back my
finished product to the researchers to show them how I had utilized their data.
After years and years of doing this, this very bright research team began to get the
hang of this process and they began to go a lot further with the assignments I gave
them. Before I knew it, they were getting these things pretty far along and that’s
when I realized that this service could now be expanded outside of the billion dollar
clients I was accustomed to working with.
So what I once charged $80,000 to produce, my team helped me systematize so
that you can get your custom core story for literally a fraction of that investment,
affordable by almost any company or sole individual looking to slaughter the
competition. Now, that said, if you cannot afford to have someone do this for you,
here’s what you need to do on your own.
Step One: Research your industry over a thirty-year period. That’s where you’ll find
trends that no one else has spotted.
Step Two: Look for the bad news. That’s what motivates. Specifically, look for bad
news that you might be able to tie to a solution that involves your product or service.
Step Three: Manipulation of that data is the most difficult part of it. It is an art form
onto itself.
Stack the info, cross reference the info, blend it with other info, etc. I do all the
original panels by hand on 3X5 index cards. This way you can erase info, and keep
shifting the order of how you want to present the info, all in a delicate balance of
insight that eventually leads to that prospect wanting YOUR product or service over
all of your competitors.
Do NOT pitch your product until the very end. You want the material in the front and
3/4 of the way through it to be a “set up.” Then somewhere toward the end, you
want a section that says: “What to look for in X type of provider.” At this point you
would present all this data about yourself without really saying it’s you. In the
telephone company example, they presented “What to look for in your telephone
system provider” and they had five things and every one of them set them up to be
the most logical provider.
A great title is critical. Here’s a great title for everyone “The Five Most Dangerous
Trends Facing All (your prospect’s type of company or issue here) XYZ Type
Companies/Consumers”.
The second panel is always “Areas Covered”, and is used as a teaser and presell
opportunity. It should make their mouth water with anticipation. The rest of the layout
and ideas on graphics and how to utilize them is covered quite thoroughly in the
session entitled “Effective Presenting”.
In summary, your core story can accelerate:
 Training
 Client access
 Decision making process
The Masters Series ©Chet Holmes International 2014
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36
 Appointment setting
 Closing skills
 Rapport opportunities
 Increased credibility
…And so much more. If you build it, they will buy!
Or, you can certainly have the Empire Research Group build it for you. Check out the
Chet Holmes International website (www.ChetHolmes.com) and click the Core Story
hyperlink. Alternatively, you can call us at (845) 789-4178 or email us at
[email protected] for a free Core Story Consultation.
The Masters Series ©Chet Holmes International 2014
All Rights Reserved
37
List of Basic Research Sites Online for Developing Core
Stories
Here are some great sites that share a whole host of information on various market
data and facts to help supplement your research in developing your Core Story. In
addition, there are many other research sites available that will be more specific to
your market or industry. The best way to search for other more specific research sites
that will offer valuable information for your specific industry is to test different key
words and phrases on your favorite search engine. The type of keyword you use can
make all the difference as to the quality of information you retrieve.
Website
www.ABCNews.com
www.census.gov
www.dol.gov
www.bls.gov
www.shrm.org
Description
Go to the various subheadings that are
listed on the front page as your scroll
down. There are archives of
information you can choose from.
Census Bureau: For resources and
information on Census and U.S. census
bureau.
Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor and Statistics
Society for HR Management:
Information on labor, health care,
executive backgrounds and
compensation, government, employer
practices, etc.
www.WashingtonPost.com
www.give.org
www.CNN .com
www.forbes.com
Wise Giving Alliance
For information on various charities and
their reputations. Part of the Better
Business Bureau (BBB)
Go to the various subheadings listed
below as you scroll down.
Home Page for the World’s Business
Leaders
www.MSNBC.com
www.absolutefacts.com
www.debtsmart.com
www.business.com
Information about autos, auto industry,
computers, software.
Great site for Bankruptcies, statistics,
etc.
The search engine for managing and
growing your business. Business facts
and information.
The Masters Series ©Chet Holmes International 2014
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38
Session 1 Quiz: Becoming a Marketing Master
Please Note: This test can be copied only for repeated usage, by the original program
purchaser, and not to be resold or used for any profit. Uses for the test: a) Used as a primer
before viewing the video, this test will prompt you to note the important points as they arise. b)
The test should be given after viewing the video to show how well you retained the information.
c) The test can be used as a vehicle to measure the comprehension of employees who view
the video (for current employee new-hires, or any employee who uses the video for self-study
or in a training situation). d) The test can be given every eleven weeks as a means for promoting
memorization (the minimum acceptable level of learning) of the material.
Name: _________________________________________________________________________
Score (8 points for each correct answer, 112 points = 100%): _______________________
1. If you’re selling advertising for a newspaper a bad title would be: “Why you should
advertise in our newspaper.” A good title would be:
_______________________________________________________________________________
2. The railroad company define themselves as “We Build Railroads”. Write a more
strategic definition: ____________________________________________________________
What would be the broadest possible view? ____________________________________
3. An exercise equipment company is the BASIC description.
Write a more strategic title? ____________________________________________________
What would be a broadest possible view title? __________________________________
4. Solutions are way more motivational them problems?
TRUE or FALSE
5. If you were selling vitamins, what trend involving spinach would imply vitamins are
more important now than ever before? _________________________________________
6. Involving sperm count also makes a strong case for better nutrition in your diet in
what ways? Describe the trend and its implications. _____________________________
7. Define what a customer is compared to a client.
Customer: ____________________________________________________________________
Client: ________________________________________________________________________
8. What is your first strategic objective if you want to have “clients” instead of
“customers”? __________________________________________________________________
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39
9. When you present market data, you shift the power in your favor.
TRUE or FALSE
10. USP by Madison Avenue definition is called: ____________________________________
11. USP by Chet Holmes definition is called: ________________________________________
12. Which of the following is NOT a rule for developing a slogan? A slogan should:
A: Describe the product or service
B: Contain a benefit
C: Make people happy and be hip
D: Position your company above the competition
E: Set up the buying criteria in which your product or service is the most logical
choice
13. What 5 elements constitute the structure of a core story?
1) ______________________________________________________________________________
2) ______________________________________________________________________________
3) ______________________________________________________________________________
4) ______________________________________________________________________________
5) ______________________________________________________________________________
14. What is the ultimate accomplishment of the core story sales model?
________________________________________________________________________________
15. A core story should begin by bragging about your company and making sure you
plug your company throughout the entire story.
TRUE or FALSE
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