Let me tell you an important story.
It’s about the time I was at a conference with Donald Miller – creator of the Storybrand system, and someone I deeply admire.
For those of you who don’t know, Storybrand is basically a technique for writing your brand copy in the format of a story – with a hero, villain, etc. It’s great stuff, makes things super clear, and I would advocate it for every client I work with.
But…
…there is a problem.
And that brings me to my story.
At this conference Miller explained the basic framework to describe what your business does to customers – essentially a “problem – solution – end state” model. And then he invited founders in the audience to write theirs, shout it out, and he’d critique it.
Let me tell you, people went nuts.
It was more like a Bieber concert that business conference. For most of them, this was the first time they’d ever been able to coherently explain what their business did – and that’s a powerful drug.
One by one, they stood and read out their little scripts.
Pool cleaners.
Gym chains.
IT consultants.
Car dealers.
And sure enough each one was crisp, succinct, and convincing.
But you know what else?
None of them were going to work.
Because you see what none of the founders realised is that they hadn’t created scripts for their specific businesses. They’s actually created scripts for any business in their sector.
A script that would apply to any pool cleaner.
A script that would apply to any gym chain.
A script that would apply to any IT consultant.
A script that would apply to any car dealer.
And because of that, none of these scripts could ever be expected to tip the scale in their favour.
Now look I want to be super clear here. First, this is not a criticism of Donald Miller or his work at all. Like I said, his stuff is awesome. He is not responsible for what these businesses do, just how they say it.
(And to be fair, their new-found clarity probably did come in handy. After all, it’s better to be generic and clear than generic and confusing, which is what they were before)
But what this story shows is the fundamental problem with almost every business system, framework, or program:
Great technique + shoddy strategy = bad results
Without leverage, without meaningful differentiation, it simply doesn’t matter how smart the sales funnel is. Or the branding framework. Or the automation systems.
If the business is fundamentally offering something which is confused, generic, or low value none of these things can fix it.
And yet founders spend thousands duct-taping world class tactics to their low-leverage businesses and end up tearing their hair out screaming that “nothing works!”.
But the tactics do work.
It’s not the tactics.
It’s you.
Tactical excellence – what almost all business programs are selling – will supercharge a great business idea, but they won’t create it.
No matter how much you tune a car’s engine, it won’t go any faster if it has no wheels. And that’s why you’ve got to get the fundamentals right before you start tuning.
And in my opinion this is what makes the Strategy Shortcut System so different.
Because it’s the only program that does the hard yards to ensure your business is offering genuinely differentiated value before accelerating it with operational excellence.
When you’ve got this nailed, then you can go crazy with all the other techniques and programs.
The value you get from them will increase 100x, because they’ll be applied to a business that actually works.
Stop wasting time.
Stop wasting money.
Do the first thing first.
Whether it’s with me, with someone else, or on your own – just do it.
Because until then, it’s all academic.
