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Lesson 02 · 10 minutes

Story, proof, experience.
Divided by inconsistency.

This lesson takes the formula from lesson one a term at a time. It shows where each term lives in your company, and where inconsistency gets in.

Begin All nine lessons

A story is one sentence
a customer can repeat.

  1. 01The one sentence, and how to find yours.The test is whether a customer can repeat it to a friend without notes.
  2. 02The proof that makes it believable.A number, a name or a result. Something a stranger can check.
  3. 03The four places a customer meets the company.The site, the product, the reply and the box. Check which one does not match the others.

Story

Story

The one idea you want repeated.

If a customer can remember one sentence about you, this is the sentence.

A story is short enough to repeat and specific enough to be wrong.

If nobody could disagree with it, it is not saying anything.

The testWould a customer repeat it?To a friend, without notes, in their own words. If the answer is a paragraph, there is no story yet.
The trapSaying everything.A story that covers every feature becomes a list, and customers do not repeat lists.

Three that pass the test, and the one you are writing.

  1. 1,000 songs in your pocket.the iPod, 2001. Five words, one idea
  2. Just do it.Nike. Three words, no product named
  3. Think different.Apple, 1997. Two words, a character more than a claim
  4. Yours.one sentence, short enough to repeat, specific enough to be wrong

Proof

Proof

The fact that backs the story up.

Something a stranger can check without asking you.

Proof comes in 3 kinds. You need at least one.

A number5 GB holds 1,000 songs.A figure on the spec sheet that proves the story.
A nameWho already trusts you.A customer, a partner, a publication. A name a stranger recognizes vouches for you.
A resultBefore, and after.The result for one customer, in their numbers.

Experience

Experience

How it feels to deal with you.

The customer decides this term, in 4 places. You control what they find in each one.

Four places. Walk them as a customer would.

  1. The sitethe first minute, before anyone has spoken to you
  2. The productwhether it does what the sentence said
  3. The replythe email, the call, the support ticket, in whose voice
  4. The boxthe invoice, the packaging, the hand-off. The last thing they touch

The experience is where the story is either kept or broken.

A promise on the site that the product does not keep disproves the story.

Inconsistency

Inconsistency is not a fourth thing you make. It is the gap between the three you already have.

It gets in at 3 points.

Inconsistency in the story

The deck says one thing. The site says another.

Two sentences compete for the same slot, and the customer keeps neither.

Inconsistency in the proof

A claim with no proof behind it.

The sales call promises what the spec sheet does not show. The story becomes a slogan.

Inconsistency in the experience

The reply arrives in a different voice.

Support writes like a different company. The box arrives in last year’s colors.

What it costs

Every mismatch divides all three.

A small one costs more than its size suggests, because the customer stops trusting the parts that were right.

How can we create that influence?

BRAND=STORY × PROOF × EXPERIENCEINCONSISTENCY
  • STORY: the one idea you want repeated.
  • PROOF: facts and third-party signals that back it up.
  • EXPERIENCE: how people feel dealing with you.
  • INCONSISTENCY kills trust; we must reduce it everywhere.
Slide 02The formula, from the workshop.

On Monday

Write the sentence.

Write one sentence and put it on the wall, where the team sees it. If 2 people write different ones, that is the first meeting.

List the proof.

List 3 items a stranger could check, such as a number, a name or a result. If you cannot find 3, pick 1 claim and do the work that makes it true.

Walk the four places.

Walk the site, the product, the reply and the box as a customer would, in one afternoon. Note every place the sentence is not kept.

Recap

  1. 01The story is one sentence a customer can repeat.Short enough to repeat, specific enough to be wrong.
  2. 02The proof is a number, a name or a result.Something a stranger can check without taking your word.
  3. 03The experience is written by the customer in 4 places.The site, the product, the reply, the box. Inconsistency is the gap between them, and it divides.

One sentence, 3 proofs and 4 places,
with nothing that disagrees.

Next

Lesson three gives the story a character.

Twelve archetypes, each in one line, and the three tests that tell yours from the one you admire.

0314 minTwelve characters. Your company is one of them.

The archetypes, each with its promise and the brand that carries it. Clear, match, resonate.

Open the lesson
04In productionA logo is recognized in one second, at any size.

Accessible, unmistakable, authentic. Then why a logo is a system, not a file.

Start here

Ask about the lesson, or tell me about the company.

A question about a lesson gets an answer. A company gets the questionnaire.

  1. 01You write.A few lines on the company and what you need.
  2. 02We talk.Thirty minutes, on a call, within 1 business day.
  3. 03You leave with a plan.What happens first, who it needs, and a date.
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