Story Power Blog

Here’s the big idea in Joey Coleman’s book Never Lose a Customer Again: “The typical business does a great job of getting the attention of the customer and persuading them to buy, but then does very little to create a meaningful or remarkable experience for them after the sale. “There are many reasons why customers leave,…

Here’s a stat that got my attention: A 5 percent improvement in customer retention rates will yield a 25 to 100 percent increase in profits. So says Joey Coleman in his book Never Lose a Customer Again. Most business owners understand the idea. But very few have systems designed to delight and retain customers. That’s…

Greetings from the Methow Valley. North-Central Washington on the eastern slope of the North Cascades mountain range. My office chair this morning is a comfy Adirondack on the back porch, facing south, overlooking the valley. Hillsides covered with sagebrush and dotted with ponderosa pines fall below, infinite shades of green and gold lit up by…

Dan Kennedy doesn’t do email… …or free events. For 30+ years, if you wanted to reach the most influential direct response marketer alive, you sent him a fax. He’d fax you back. Or mail you a typed letter. He’s the guy who trained Russell Brunson, Frank Kern, and most every name you’d recognize in direct…

It’s National Limerick Day. 🥳 To celebrate, I’m giving away a free video e-course called “7 Secrets to Write Emails That Sell.” 7 videos, loaded with business-building tips, delivered to your inbox over 7 days. Poetic details below… If your emails fall flat as the floor, And your readers just snore and ignore, There’s a fix…

Since AI became a thing, I’ve heard more than a few would-be goo-roos say you should litter your AI-generated content with typos and misspellings… …so readers (and AI detectors) think a human wrote it. That’s a stupid marketing trick. Don’t do it. First, typos don’t fool AI detectors. I know humans who have tested it.…

I’d like to share a gift with you… …inspired by David Byrne. Here’s the backstory… Yesterday, I told you about attending Byrne’s concert on Tuesday and being blown away. After writing that email yesterday morning, I decided to buy tickets and see him again last night. Same set of songs. Same visuals. Same show. Still,…

According to ancient historians, today — April 24 — is the day the Greeks used a giant wooden horse to conquer the Trojans. Here’s the story, as told by Greek and Roman historians… April 24, 1184 B.C. The Greeks had been camped outside Troy for 10 years. It was a stalemate. Their best warrior, Achilles,…

My favorite story from the book “10 Commandments of Con Men, Pickup Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians, and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters” by John Bejakovic: St. Petersburg, Russia. 1903. Harry Houdini takes the stage at the court of Tsar Nicholas II. He’s already run through a few tricks for the…

Happy National Awkward Moments Day. I’ve had many. Here’s one… A few years ago, I was in the cereal aisle at the grocery store when I ran into my high school pal Lisa. I hadn’t seen her in years so I was surprised to notice… Her belly was enormous! It was sticking out so far…

When I was younger (and lonelier), I wrote a song called “Unrequited Love.” I wrote it a few weeks after a blind date. I thought the date went well. I called her — several times. Left messages suggesting a second date. No reply. No more dates. Sad story. I’m thinking of writing a similar song…

Today is the fourth of March. Betcha didn’t know today is also March Forth and Do Something Day. March forth on March Fourth. Get it? Word nerds call that a homophonic pun. “Homo” as in same. Phonic as in “sound.” Two words that sound the same but have different meanings. Wordsmiths call that funny (Come…

To script or not to script? That is the question. You’re preparing a webinar or sales presentation, and you want to cover all the bases. You don’t want to leave out any of the important bits. You don’t want to stumble at critical points. So do you memorize a script and deliver your lines? Or…

Ripped from the pages of Reddit: An email that “Matt” received from an eager lead-gen vendor: Subject Line: “Saw your name in the Epstein Files” Email Body: “Hey Matt, don’t worry I’m only kidding. Just figured I’d get your attention and if you’re reading this, I guess it worked! We work with budding startups that…

Twenty-five years ago last month, I founded an email marketing software company called MarketVolt. This was before most people had heard of email marketing, much less tried it. I ran the software company (and the marketing agency I built around it) for 19 years before selling it in 2019. Then I started my current marketing…

If you’ve written a book… …or you’re thinking about writing one… …join me this evening (Wednesday 1/28) for The Book Profit Plan — 3 Ways to Turn Your Book into More Profits in 2026. I’ll show you how authors use their book to attract leads, land more clients, and boost profits — without tech headaches…

When I started my first business and supervised employees, I would often think, “Why can’t they just get it right?” I’d “delegate” a project, and when my employees stumbled or got stuck, I’d blame them. But I was the one who was stuck. I suffered from what Atiba de Souza calls the Judger Mindset — blaming my team…

Pedro was living the dream. His HVAC repair company was thriving. Revenue was up. The phone kept ringing. But it wasn’t always sunshine and roses — especially after hours. At 11 PM, his phone would buzz: “Boss, I don’t know how to handle this repair. What should I do?” At 6 AM, another call: “The customer is…

I don’t have many nightmares, but when I do have them, they’re usually about college. They go like this: I wake in my dorm, roll out of bed, and realize my history final is TODAY… …but I haven’t attended a single class… …or read a single book. Oh! The horror! I forgot to cram for…