Tell Your Story-with Mike Ganino-EP75

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Mike Ganino, a storytelling and communication expert, author, and speaker. Mike speaks about how to stand out by telling your story in a way that will resonate with your audience.  Episode Highlights:  Mike Ganino realized early in his career as a manager that the best ideas rarely won. He saw employees, companies, and vendors with great ideas that they didn't know how to package. The real estate industry is really about relationships and relationships are stories. We often describe ourselves to our prospects using vague adjectives instead of relying on narrative. Tell a story that makes your listeners aware of your cutting-edge marketing. With stories, you can show that you're innovative without ever having to say it. What really makes you stand out is the stories you tell about yourself. Realtors tend to want to talk about stats. Nobody cares about those stats because they don't resonate. Mike talks about "fauxnerability" online. Storytelling for business is different from storytelling for entertainment. Think about who your audience is and think about what they should know about you that will make them want to work with you. Mike talks about the audience-directed strategy he uses on his About page. Think about what's interesting to the person in front of you. Tell people something about you that shows them who you are. That doesn't have to be heroic. Mike shares how he would approach a hypothetical Malibu prospect. Hear how he tells a story unique to that particular prospect. You only need a couple of iterations of your story for a particular area. Be careful about asking too many discovery questions. Ask questions in a way that is natural. We need to ask questions and also remember to reveal things about ourselves. Look at your listing appointments and buyer conversations. Look at all the places where you make an assertion and prove it with a story. When telling stories about a home, think about how people would use it. Imagine a day in someone's life as you're conducting the tour. Investors and flippers are the people that care about the facts. You can use seller stories as part of your marketing. Interview your sellers. The top agents win because they know how to sell a story attached to a home. Video is very important right now.  Consider taking an improv theatre class to get more comfortable in your skin. Create evergreen content that talks about who you are and your core values. 3 Key Points: When someone asks you to tell them about you, figure out what it is they are really trying to get to. When considering how to tell stories about homes, think about the story of the house but also the story of the people who are going to love living there. Facts do not sell homes. Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents website, Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram Mike Ganino website, Facebook, Instagram, Podcast Get Mike’s free workbook with prompts here  Company Culture for Dummies book