Quotes from Donald Miller

I heard my pastor say once, when there were only a few of us standing around, that he hated Bill Clinton. I can understand not liking Clinton's policies, but I want my spirituality to rid me of hate, not give me reason for it. I couldn't deal with that.

People are looking for a philosophy they can embody or a series of steps they can take to solve their problems.

Step 2: Solution

What Value Will Your Customer Receive if They Do Business With You?

Story in a Nutshell Here is nearly every story you see or hear in a nutshell: A CHARACTER who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before they can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE steps into their lives, gives them a PLAN, and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action helps them avoid FAILURE and ends in a SUCCESS.

When it comes to marketing, the header on your website, the subject line of your email, the opening statement of your proposal, the title of your lead generator, your entire elevator pitch, the first line of your keynote address, and a thousand other things need to succinctly express one of the ways you help people survive.

Where some companies would simply mention they have a maintenance package, this company is "adding perceived value" to that package by listing other benefits the package gets me.

Translation: they wanted him to sell junk food to diabetics.

Characters only take action after they are challenged by an outside force.

Pain can serve a purpose if we cause it to. Again, while we do not have power over all that happens in the world, we do have power over our perspective. We can choose to take unfair and undue pain and cause it to serve our own story so that we become better. So that we transform.

He wasn't just calling them into a life of sacrifice. He was calling them into a life of meaning, even the kind of meaning that would involve suffering. Suffering for a redemptive reason is hardly suffering, after all.

All of us, from time to time, aren't treated fairly, but it's the heroes who overcome their oppressors to accomplish their important mission.

we want our customers' ears to perk up when we talk about our products and services, we should position those products and services as weapons they can use to defeat a villain.

If they don't, people will not listen.

Human beings take action when their story challenges them to do so.

What's at stake? If nothing can be gained or lost, nobody cares. Will the hero disarm the bomb, or will people be killed? Will the guy get the girl, or will he be lonely and filled with self-doubt? These are the kinds of questions in the minds of a story-hungry audience.

Make Sure the Problem and Solution Are Connected

Most marketing agents believe marketing is an art, not a science. We disagree. While there is art involved, it is very much a science. A science you can learn.

Customers are much more likely to buy a $500 item if they can get it for only $200.

Remember, the greatest enemy our business faces is the same enemy that good stories face: noise. At no point should we be able to pause a movie and be unable to answer three questions: 1.?What does the hero want? 2.?Who or what is opposing the hero getting what she wants? 3.?What will the hero's life look like if she does (or does not) get what she wants?

How Do You Get Past a Person's Curiosity Filter?

The more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain to digest.

By using words, we just raised the perceived value of our products and gave our customer a much better deal.

Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in.