We know what you're probably thinking: The last thing the world needs is another business book.
Don't worry. This is not a business book. This is a love story.
It might sound strange, but hear us out. The Passion Conversation is a story about being famous for the people who love you, for the way you love them.
We're going to share some remarkable love stories.
In the three years since our first book, Brains on Fire, was published we've done a lot of thinking about love and how it relates to business and to word of mouth marketing. We've also given a lot of thought to the word passion, which we actually mention 67 times in our last book. (Sixty-seven times? Yup. John Moore, the self proclaimed “ticky-tacky detail geek” among us counted.)
Since that first book, we've wondered over and over again—at first to ourselves, then aloud to one another—is passion something that can be unearthed in someone? Can it be taught? Is it real? It is overused or misused? Did we misuse it one or more of those 67 times? Does it belong in business, or is it a word best saved for artists, romance novels, religious stories, or 20-year-old lovebirds who can't stand the thought of being apart?
We've asked ourselves over the years why the following lesson from our last book gets tweeted and repeated over and over and over again.
“It's not about the product conversation; it's about the passion conversation.”
Hmmmm.
The book you're holding in your hands is called The Passion Conversation. We don't take that deliberate choice of words lightly. Can we really write a book worthy of such a lofty title? Who knows? But we do know the following:
We're all in marketing grad school. And there are some valuable lessons to be learned inside the passionate love stories we're about to share with you. They're lessons that can make our businesses better places to work. Lessons that can make us feel more alive and more purposeful in how we spend our time and talents. Lessons that can help spark social change. Think about it: Can you imagine a world where more of us are happy at work? A world where the majority of us are working with passion?
In the following pages, we'll share the stories of four amazing organizations—Foundations Recovery Network, Anytime Fitness, DeVry University, and the National Center for Family Literacy—that took the time and effort to bring their passion conversations to life inside and outside of their office walls. Regardless of their for-profit or not-for-profit status, each of the companies we're highlighting is adding value to people's lives, and in doing so, they're sparking word of mouth.
It's in our DNA as human beings to share things we find valuable and meaningful with others. We talk about things (and people) we love often and with a force that sticks. You might not be a recovery business, a fitness franchise, a higher education university, a not-for-profit, or any of the other businesses we've sprinkled in, but chances are these stories will inspire you to take action nonetheless.
We believe with all our hearts and souls, it is possible, absolutely possible, to fall madly and passionately in love with the people you serve.
And we believe that it's possible for those folks to fall in love with you, too; and, yes, for you to become famous and grow your organization because of that love. If you want people to be in love with you and talk about you, you must fall in love with them first. Your clients, customers, donors, tribe, employees, advocates—what you call them doesn't really matter—can and should become beloved heroes in your organizations.
Because guess what naturally happens when you're in love? You talk about that person you love constantly. You can't wait to be with them. You think about how you can surprise them. You inspire them. They inspire you. You share secrets. You want to understand them. You have empathy. You defend them. You have compassion. You don't mind taking out the trash. You are deeply connected.
Passion is contagious.
As business owners, marketers, or Chief Love Officers (a title we think more relevant than Chief Marketing Officer) we should feel wildly romantic and passionate about the people who help fuel our businesses and spread our causes. Passion fuels word of mouth conversation and excitement. Our passions make us happy and let us know that life is worth living. They motivate us to do remarkable things. When we are passionate about someone, we really do talk about that person all the time. We're eager and excited to share the tiniest details. Spend just a few minutes around a new parent and you'll see what we mean.
Passion is not something you own; it's something you pass forward. So if you take the time to understand your own unique passion conversations—and yes, we believe everyone has them—as well as the ones that excite those you serve, something amazing will happen.
That's exactly what we've done to grow our own business over the years. Not only have we fallen in love with our customers, we received the permission and indeed the honor to get to know and care for our customers' customers. We are village matchmakers, facilitators, the Cupid of marketing companies. It's our role to help connect our customers with their employees and customers through shared passions.
Don't just take our word for it.
We've studied the work of some smart people who are also digging deep into why people talk—we've even become friends with a few. We've mixed and kneaded some of our in-the-trenches knowledge with the areas they've been researching and learning. We found that there's magic in that recipe, magic we feel compelled to share with the world.
What does it take to fall in love with your advocates, the customers and employees who are ready, willing, and happy to fall in love with you? The people who therefore willingly and passionately talk about you?
Here are the key things we've learned that you'll see come alive in the following pages:
- Know yourself and clearly define what you really want from a relationship with your employees and customers. We hate it when we hear companies talk about using fans to tell their story. Think about it: Do you really use people you care about? Absolutely not. You listen to them. You get close to them. You see them frequently. You want to be a meaningful part of their life. When we begin working with a new client, we almost always start by listening to stories within that organization's walls. We have a day of knowledge sharing. We play games. We laugh. We hear their hopes and dreams. Our goal is to help the people we serve better define who they are and what they stand for. So, we spend time with the people who answer the phones. We observe them in action as they talk with their current and potential customers and supporters. We ask to see their love letters. We take photos of the things they hang on their walls and keep at their desks. We talk to the people on the front lines as well as the CMOs and CEOs and brand managers. We spend time in meetings and just hang out socially to get know their passions. Because you know what? Passion should be a mirror. Write that down or star it in the margins so you get it under your fingernails. The reflections should match; inside passion should mirror outside passion. You have to know what drives you and your employees to get up in the morning before you can connect with other like-minded people. As author and speaker Simon Sinek says in his book Start with Why, we go looking for your why. (By the way, if you haven't read Simon's book, do it. Right after you're done with this one.)
- Be very realistic about who your customers and potential customers really are. If you're a not-for-profit, get an accurate picture of your volunteers and your donors. Who's doing more than just writing a check once or twice a year and why? Start internally and ask yourself some tough questions. Who do you serve? What do they really look like? What are their challenges? How and when do you fit in their lives? How can you add value?
For a brief time, we had a client in the beauty and fashion business. We discovered this client's customers were fairly average women, people who shopped at Walmart and Target and drove minivans. They were amazing, beautiful women who cared about looking their best, but they were not just off the cover of Vogue or Glamour. So we connected with them and started igniting a community around that connection. We found that they were real women with beauty and fashion tips and life stories (and struggles) to share. The CEO was upset that the women we felt they should be celebrating and loving weren't magazine-glossy perfect. Some of them (heaven forbid!) were even overweight. He wanted to chase the pretty girl at the party, because that's who he wanted leading the community and talking on his company's behalf. That's what people in the beauty industry do. But the pretty girl in the room didn't want to talk to him and his brand. He missed the point entirely, and we resigned. Most likely, before we were about to be fired.
The point is you have to be very realistic about who your customers really are and not just who you want them to be. As most of us know from personal experiences, you can't make someone who is not interested in you love you. Write this down too: You can't choose your advocates; they choose you.
- You can't find love sitting on your couch watching TV. There's a time to just chill and watch TV, just like there is a time to quietly pore over data and demographics. Make no mistake: We love data as much as the next company, but to really fall in love with your customers and find their passions, you have take time to be with your customers. You have to get out and make real world connections. You have to meet people where they are. Join their parties and go to their football games. And for goodness sake, don't just come out and ask people, “What is your passion?” It's a personal and emotional question and one that's pretty hard to answer without any warning or opportunity for forethought. You have to earn trust to learn about someone's true passions and trust takes time. Let's be honest. The first requirement in finding the passion conversation is pretty simple: You have to enjoy being with people.
- You can discover love and learn a lot online. There are tons of ways to listen to and participate in the conversations your customers and potential customers are having online. We partner with many smart companies who can help do just that. So exactly what can you learn from listening to these online conversations? A lot. You might find out people are tuning you out, or that they are crying bullshit on your entire industry. By using today's online technology, everyone has the ability to meet people who share similar interests, people who they would have never been able to meet in “real life.”
When we get a new client, we do two Google searches: “I love __________(fill in client name).” And “I hate ___________(fill in client name).” This helps us narrow down where the passionate conversations, both positive and negative, are taking place. You can learn a lot about passion at both ends of the emotional spectrum.
- Love is patient and kind. You cannot find the passion conversation, ignite community and fall in love overnight. Sure, there are one-night stands that might feel good at the time (perhaps the marketing equivalent of this is a successful campaign). But for real and lasting relationships to take hold, you have to be in it for the long haul. As we stated in our last book, igniting community and sparking movements are not like traditional ad campaigns. Ad campaigns have an on and off switch. You create them, run them, cross your fingers and hope for the best. Building community and loving your customers is not something you do for a limited amount of time. It's something you do every single day. And the value of that effort grows exponentially stronger and deeper with time.
- Meeting people through activities is a low-pressure way of getting to know them, and also will encourage bonding. We almost always bring our customers together with their potential community leaders, something we discussed at length in Brains on Fire's Lesson #3, which focused on the fact that movements have inspirational leadership. We bring them together to engage in a multiday summit or training session in an impressive venue. We encourage everyone to let go and enjoy themselves as we learn about each other. People share and form trust, and memories are created.
There's a little secret in the dating world that The Game author Neil Strauss calls “time-distortion.” (Though definitely not a business book, there are few good marketing lessons hidden in there.) “Time-distortion” occurs when you go to several different places with a person or group you've just met in a short period of time. Maybe you first go bowling, then to a restaurant, then out for ice cream, then for a nightcap. By creating memories in several different locations, it seems like you've known each other for longer than just one evening. This approach makes sense; after all, we feel more familiar around people with whom we've shared fun places and experiences. And while this takes time and effort in business relationships, it's worth it.
Called to Serve WITH _______________.
Before you can take your passion conversation outside of your organization, you have to make sure it's felt deeply and clearly inside its own walls.
Bon Secours St. Francis Health System is one of our current customers. They've actually been a lifelong customer of Robbin's. Seriously, she's worked with them through her entire entrepreneurial career. Together we've seen them through three CEOs and numerous CMOs. We were even with them when they changed leadership hands to an entirely new Catholic Health System based out of Maryland.
During their first CEO's tenure, St. Francis employees truly let their faith shine. They prayed before meetings and surgeries and nuns were often seen walking the halls and visiting patients in their rooms. The staff openly and proudly shared what made St. Francis different as a health provider.
The second CEO felt it was better to rein that difference in a bit and instead focus on the technology aspect of health care. Given the research available at the time this was seemingly not a bad move. Unfortunately, not long after this change, turnover and low morale became an issue. Something was clearly missing…
When the third and current CEO, Mark Nantz, came on board he and his team made a bold decision to return St. Francis to its core values and reason for being. Together with the HR and marketing departments, we began working on a plan to discover the motivation of every single person in the organization. Everyone. The first step was to take a day and meet offsite with the entire 200+ person leadership team. We asked each person why they were in patient care, and more specifically why they were a part of the Bon Secours St. Francis team. These individuals were then given the tools to ask others throughout the organization those same questions.
For the next few months these leaders and trainers held offsite retreats with different groups and departments to help each individual determine their own personal response to the prompt “Called to serve with _______________.” Their answer revealed the passion and emotions behind their work. Were they called to serve with love, joy, patience, simplicity, humor, the healing ministry of Christ? The answer didn't matter; the goal was to simply connect their personal passion with the higher mission of the health system.
We produced a video for the training sessions showcasing simple photos of people at work along with the following narration:
We can do more with than we can ever do without.
With talent and expertise, with bold ideas and compassion, ever aware of the impact our actions have on others, even when the action is simply to be … with.
So, with is how we stand. As Christ stood with those left to stand alone.
His Touch we share. His Healing we minister.
That we might lift hearts and connect every life we are called to serve … with love.
In addition to the offsite training, Daily Huddles were initiated throughout the organization. These five- to ten-minute sharing sessions allow and encourage team members to relate their own personal “with _____” moments.
So what's changed in the two years since this internal movement was sparked? According to Mark, employee turnover rates are down from double digits to single digits, a remarkable change in such a short time. Also employee and physician Gallup satisfaction scores are at an all-time high. And more importantly patient care scores have improved.
Just recently we re-edited the original “Called to Serve with ______” video and turned it into a 60-second television spot. The community's response has been absolutely overwhelming. Love letters have poured in. The employees now stand proud when their friends and family share their connection to and love of their mission.
There are so many lessons in this story but one stands out far and above: People work better, and in this case provide better care, when they are more engaged and it's easier to be engaged when your passions are allowed to shine.
- Be realistic and take a stand. You'll make some mistakes along the way and you'll even change your mind. You'll encounter a few dead ends while building lasting relationships and igniting community with your customers and your employees. This can get frustrating, but don't give up. Keep going. It's important to enjoy the process of expanding your community and connecting through shared passions. Not everyone will love you when you take a strong stand, and that's okay. You won't be everyone's cup of tea, so don't take it personally. You don't have to—in fact it's impossible to connect with everyone. You might even push a few people away, but that will actually turn out for the best since the people who are turned off by your passions will never be your advocates or customers.
- Become familiar. Studies have shown that proximity is a significant factor in falling in love. The more someone becomes familiar to you, the more positive emotions you will feel around them—and the more the attraction increases. In order to get closer to someone, you need to have lots of contact with them. How can you provide platforms and content that add frequent, maybe even daily value? How can you create events that bond you to your clients? How can you give more than you get? Once a year at Brains on Fire we bring in our employees and current and potential customers together for the Fire Sessions, a day of sharing and learning. We invite speakers we've met in our travels to share their research, experiences, and stories. We eat together, we talk, we laugh, and most importantly, we share. People start connecting with us months in advance, asking when the Fire Sessions are going to be, and if they can bring a friend. It's a lot of work, but it's one of our favorite events because everyone in our company gets to interact with our customers and advocates. And good things happen. For starters, we remember our why—something that does wonders to refuel our passion conversations.
- Tell some secrets. A few of you reading this book know what a struggle it's been for us to find time to write it because we've let you in on that secret. More than once, we have tossed up our hands and said, “The world doesn't need another business book.” Seriously. If you've shelled out the money to buy this book, you're in the club and we're planning on sharing the truth with you about the word of mouth marketing work we do. We're going to let you listen in on the actual conversations we have had with our customers, and their customers. There are a whole lot of quotes in this book. You'll hear many voices, including those from academics. We actually called people up, pressed the record button, and had those conversations transcribed. We even interviewed each other. That's how we wrote this book. There should be many, many authors of this book, but our publishers would only let us list four. We have notebooks full of those transcribed conversations. (If you're ever in our neck of the woods, stop by and you can pore through all those words and dig even deeper.) We're going to share the good and the bad here because we all know what distinguishes a close friend or a romantic partner from any other random acquaintances: the things you share with them. Sharing shows you care, which leads to trust. So think about some ways you can you let your employees and customers in on things that they don't typically get to see. Doing so will create intimacy and closeness. It's contrary to normal business practices, but give it a try. The “first to know, first to tell” knowledge has been a longtime tenet of word of mouth marketing, and there's another benefit of sharing secrets: Your customers will get more comfortable in sharing their secrets and trusting you. Like all good relationships, it's a matter of give and take.
- Less is more. The world is drowning in literature full of facts and figures that just don't stick. Don't create brochures; create conversation tools. And keep in mind that less is more when it comes to these. Think about something as simple as a lowly T-shirt. Consider how a T-shirt with “Break the Stigma” written on it invites a conversation. A hand-painted, one-of-a-kind Fitness Rebel T-shirt with your name on it invites a conversation. Less is more when it comes to stories as well. Short, sharable stories rule.
- The passion conversation isn't about getting people to talk about YOU, the brand. It's about getting people to talk about themselves. Encourage others to talk about themselves, their lives, their hopes, and their dreams. Create platforms, online and offline, for the people you serve to share their own stories. Give them opportunities to talk and be willing to listen.
It's possible to learn to fall madly in love with your employees and your customers, and in the process unearth your own passion conversation. And this book is going to help you do just that.
We're not really in the marketing business these days. We're in the people business.
This makes sense for us because marketing nowadays is more about reframing the work you do in the world to inspire your employees and customers. The most successful word of mouth–driven businesses in the world have always been in the business of inspiring people.
Good stuff happens when you're in the people business. We promise.
The subtitle of this book is Understanding, Sparking, and Sustaining Word of Mouth Marketing. We could just as well substitute Word of Mouth Marketing with Love and Passion. Just promise you'll open your mind enough to embrace what we are about to share.
