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Day 2: Make your people heroes

August 31, 2010 By 21 Comments
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Do they know that you care?

If you’ve ever been in a situation where it was necessary to win people over, you’ve probably heard the phrase:

They don’t care what you know until they know that you care.


It’s a smart phrase. It drives home the point that you won’t be winning people over unless you really care about them. But what about when you’re trying to sell something? What place does caring have then?

If you’re trying to sell something, I offer you this updated (if not a bit more crass) phrase:

They won’t buy your shit until they know you give a shit.

It’s true. And you believe it somewhere deep inside you too…or you wouldn’t be part of this 28-day challenge.

Make your people heroes

I believe in heroes. I believe that most of us want to BE heroes. (Makes sense that I run a site called Heroic Destiny.)

Which means that if I want to lead my people, I need to be concerned with what they care about. I need to make it a point to make them heroes too. For me, that wasn’t difficult as there are numerous members of my tribe that I absolutely DO consider heroes.

Recently, I wrote a post about the people that are so amazing that I want to meet them all face to face (you know, in the REAL world…so those relationships would count, right?). That post took HOURS AND HOURS to put together, but when I was finished, I had a list of 27 people I wanted to meet face to face. The first people listed were people I considered to be in my tribe. The second list were people whose tribes I considered myself to be part of.

Notice who I put first. It wasn’t the ones with tens of thousands of followers. Ya, those people are amazing, but they aren’t the ones I count on day to day. Sure, a single link from them can mean a huge spike in traffic, but the people I put first are the ones who have stood by me day after day.

  • THEY are the people I viewed as heroes.
  • THEY are the people that I wanted the “A Listers” to see first.
  • THEY were the people I promoted AS heroes.

The result? That was my most popular post to date. And it was because of the first group, my tribe, who made sure people saw that post. They knew I gave a shit about them. In fact, they knew I was head over heels in love with them!

Don’t believe me? Then send a tweet to Josh, Ross, Eric, Mark, Drew, Joel, Wilson, Timothy, Abby or Velda and ask them what THEY thought of me highlighting them first in my post!

Make your people, your customers, heroes and they will love you for it!

[Insert your name here]

My wife’s Memaw (that’s Southern for grandmother) once told me something that I thought was the best marketing advice ever. She said that everyone’s favorite word is their own name.

Your task is to continue producing your content. Whether that’s a blog, print ads, Twitter, Facebook, or even a plane writing it on the sky in smoke. Keep producing your content.

Only, remember Memaw’s advice. Don’t just refer to your people ambiguously, use their favorite word. Highlight specific people on your blog or in your ads as heroes. Mention customers by name on Twitter and Facebook. Have that plane write out someone’s actual name! (And send me pics if you do that last one!)

Fall in love with your people. Then use their favorite word (their name) to highlight them as heroes.

I promise you, people WILL fall madly in love with you.

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Filed Under: Make Customers Love You
  • http://twitter.com/eagledove11 eagledove11

    Wow David…
    (actually my first response was ‘Holy crap…aargh!! I’m still trying to work out Day One’s challenge …long story & I’m always running behind playing catch up!!)

    Anyways great thought provoking post with valuable information and ideas!! Thank you very much!!
    Personally (and my issue, I acknowledge and own it!!) I have no trouble welcoming the idea of Making people heroes/heroines and always enjoy doing so!!
    However the issue I am struggling with is the concept of me, my self and I being a ‘Hero’ or ever wishing to be and ditto regarding ‘favourite name’ ….

    So obviously I need to think on that a tad more!!

    Great challenge for day two!!
    So let’s rock ‘n’ roll!!

  • http://twitter.com/abbykerr Abby Kerr

    Really great perspective, David. Here’s my admission: in my first business life {that of an indie retailer}, I bucked the idea of an online community. I wanted to feel like a lone ranger, totally focused on doing my thing and if people wanted to pay attention, great. But you think I was going to include mentions of other people in my posts? Heck, no, *especially* not if they were related to my business in any way. I was determined to be an island.

    Then I closed my shop and decided to create the business I *really* wanted, and to do it online. And I realized that everything is so much better when you put the focus on other people — their gifts, their talents, their awesome personalities. This is truly what it’s all about. I would never go back to the way I used to be, and if I could do my retail life online over again, I’d do it differently.

    I like the way you’ve framed this up as “make your people feel like heroes.” Each of us really is a hero/ine in our way.

    – Abby

  • http://www.flyingcoloursmaths.co.uk Colin

    I finally got around to asking my students about their summer exam results – I’d been putting it off out of shyness. So far, it’s been a deluge of good news :o)

  • Anonymous

    Thanks David! One of my tasks during this challenge is to ask the people who downloaded my ebook since I posted it in May for their HONEST feedback. Now I know I need to ask in such a way that I make it clear I don’t just want feedback, I want THEIR feedback. Because they cared enough download it, and because THEIR life experience makes it useful or not.

  • http://www.heroicdestiny.com David Crandall

    Being one of those corporate people, I have done the same thing for waaay too long. I think our culture (especially the professional culture) has taught us to focus on ourselves if we want to get anywhere. As you can testify, that doesn’t work nearly as well as focusing on others.

    There’s only so much one person can do. By focusing on others, we develop a team of people who want us to succeed because we help them to succeed. I love this approach because the results are much better than any scam out there AND we leave the world a better place than we found it.

    Talk about a WIN/WIN!!

  • http://www.heroicdestiny.com David Crandall

    I totally understand the struggle you speak of concerning the “concept of me”, so I’m going to let you in on a little secret about being a hero(ine) yourself. I don’t share this often because most people think it’s too simple to work; everyone always wants a much more complicated answer.

    Focus on making your people heroes and you’ll start to develop your “concept of me” much quicker.

    When you take the focus off of yourself, you begin to do what comes more naturally to you. Your true design comes out when you focus on loving on the people around you. Through THAT the “concept of me” begins to naturally flesh itself out. You’ll look back and realize that patterns begin to emerge and you’ll recognize them as being part of your true self.

    The way I would apply that today is to not worry about how you come across or your normal message, but just to focus on making your people heroes first. Hit publish/submit/fly(on that plane) and then look back at how YOU came through. I’d love to know what you discover!

  • http://www.heroicdestiny.com David Crandall

    I’ve had the sad displeasure of putting out requests for feedback before and hearing only crickets. I think it is because I’m asking my people to work with no benefit to them. (Hopefully this will not be your experience, but thought I would address it so you don’t get discouraged if it is.)

    HOWEVER…you can avoid the dreaded crickets by offering something of value to your people. Perhaps you could offer to highlight the best reviews with some link love to their website/Twitter accounts. That way they’d see something in it for them. People are more likely to go out of their way to do something if there is a direct benefit to them.

    Thoughts?

  • http://www.wilsonusman.com/ Wilson Usman

    Wow dude, I really flipping think you’re my brother from another mother, (is that how it goes?) I am such a Colombian, LOL.

    Dude like not to long ago I was thinking about what you’ve just talked about. I blame it on some JERK trying to sell my girlfriend advertising space on some non-relevant magazine that nobody knows about. Anyway it’s to long of a story, but the whole point was that I was telling Brittani that “dude” didn’t even bothered to look at her site or anything, he just contacted her because she had an ad on craigslists and wanted to sell her shit without even caring to know more about her or be interested in her wants.

    Words from my mentors “God gave you two ears; Listen twice as much as you talk”

    Abby- you said it perfectly “And I realized that everything is so much better when you put the focus on other people”

    It’s so true, that’s why you, David and many more will keep having the success they’re having.

    I love what Susan is doing; by following up with your customers, you’re building KILLER trust and engagement with them.

    Colin- You should get on that immediately, you’ll see such great results.

    I love this challenge, and it’s awesome that so many people are getting on the bandwagon.

    Great article David Love you man (Don’t worry I crushed a beer can as I wrote that) keep doing what you’re doing.

  • http://www.heroicdestiny.com David Crandall

    Wilson, you are a rockstar! I love you too and I always appreciate what you have to say! You are such an encourager and just so much fun to talk to. (Crushing beer can now)

    You are doing crazy cool stuff and impacting people. Can’t wait to see what else you come up with!

  • http://www.heroicdestiny.com David Crandall

    For some reason, I keep replying but none of them stick. I’m sure all of them will pop up at once so just know that I’m TRYING to show love. LOL

    I’d love to see the responses you got back from people. I think it’d be cool to see how those respond now will continue to do so if you keep showing them love.

    Keep us posted!!!

  • http://twitter.com/josh_crocker Josh Crocker

    You’re my freakin hero!

    Should be mentioning you either tomorrow or Thursday in my “Twitzkrieg” :)

  • http://www.heroicdestiny.com David Crandall

    HAHA!! Josh, you are the main person who pushed me to finally stop planning and actually start my blog. My only regret concerning you is that you are not my next door neighbor so I could pester you in person everyday. :D

    You’re MY freakin hero!

  • http://www.flyingcoloursmaths.co.uk Colin

    All happiness and thanks (apart from one who messed up badly… but was still grateful). It even generated a lead for me :o)

  • LaVonne Ellis

    Sometimes Disqus gets clogged up and it takes a few hours to get straightened out. Frustrating, but I still love Disqus for so many reasons. Did you know you can reply to comments by email? Well, for you, that wouldn’t be so inviting since you hate email, lol. But for me? BIG.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks David, I appreciate that! Perhaps I will offer each of them a free copy when I publish it for $$, or mention them in the acknowledgments in the new version.

  • http://completeflake.com/ LaVonne Ellis

    David, you are so talking my language, thank you. Wonderful, soulful,
    brilliant advice. You are MY hero!

    ~LaVonne

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  • http://twitter.com/eagledove11 eagledove11

    Thank you so much for your fabulous advice David …greatly appreciated …
    Will keep you ‘in the loop’!! (aussie slang for keeping you informed!) as to the discoveries…

    Insert big smiley face sending you some love!
    And so it is …

  • http://joelrunyon.com/two3 Joel Runyon | [BIT]

    dude, if you keep talking about love so much, I’m gonna start worrying about you :)

    But seriously so true. why wouldn’t you talk about the people that inspire & push you on a day to day basis. They’re the ones keeping you going. We need to be giving back as much as we’re getting.

  • http://www.heroicdestiny.com David Crandall

    That post seriously took the longest of any I’ve done to put together, but it was a total joy! I loved being able to highlight people like you who make all of this worthwhile.

    I think people throw the word love around too much, but I truly make it a point to love the people I surround myself with. Face it, Joel…I love you.

    Now let’s go crush some beer cans on our heads so we look like men. Grrrrr!

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