Last month, Girl Scout cookies made their annual appearance in the office. It was a joyous time. There is a great branding lesson here:

• Don't mess with a good thing. Girl Scout cookies have changed very little over time. Sure the packaging and some ingredients have changed, but the cookies themselves have remained largely consistent - one of the values of an outstanding brand.
• Fondness makes the heart grow stronger. No doubt the Girl Scouts have had numerous offers to license, franchise, and globalize their cookies. Seeing them on the grocery store shelf every week would likely kill the brand and the entrepreneurial lessons learned in the sales process.
• Revenue supports the values, not vice-versa. The organization is first and foremost about building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. The annual sale is a tangible extension of and means to achieve those values rather than an effort to fill the coffers.

Now, if you will excuse us, we have to go find the person who raided our stash of Thin Mints.

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We heard an interesting term the other day worth passing along: customer narrative. Very simply put, the customer narrative is the story that the customer is living at that time. The story could be prosperous. It could be tumultuous. It could be downright copasetic. The customer narrative provides a good framework for the business development process in terms of how you understand a prospect and how you fit into the prospect's narrative. Here are some potential elements of the narrative to consider:

• Protagonist - This is the prospect - the hero in the story. Every protagonist has a goal. What does your prospect want more than anything else in the world?
• Inciting incident - The inciting incident is the beginning of the story. What caused your prospect to start its business? What was so compelling that your prospect couldn't resist?
• Rising action - The rising action is the big concept driving the story forward - i.e. lowering health insurance costs or fighting identity thieves or building consensus for a project. What is the rising action driving your prospect's business? How has the rising action changed over the years?
• Story arc - The story arc is the evolution of a character during a story. Luke Skywalker's story arc is from family farmhand to Jedi warrior. What is your prospect's story arc? How do they see themselves in the future?
• Supporting characters - Supporting characters hinder or help the protagonist toward a goal. Who are the supporting characters in the prospect's narrative? Are they helping or hindering your prospect in achieving its goals?

The customer narrative is a framework to build your business development strategy. Ultimately, prospects choose to align themselves with people who fit into their narrative - that is people who help them solve an immediate problem or guide them around future pitfalls - and give the story a happy ending.

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Next time you have a complicated writing project or presentation, try the 3 x 3 method to help organize your thoughts. First, think of the big idea you want to convey and divide that into three main ideas - the beginning, middle, and end is a good way to start. Then, take each main idea and think of three points to support each main idea. Repeat the process one more time with each of the new points. You will end up with 27 salient points organized in a logical way to convey your overall theme.

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Something bad has happened, but the news media doesn't know about it yet. If the word gets out, your company's reputation could take a big hit. Should your company be proactive about releasing the news or wait to see if someone calls?

This is a difficult question. The answer is entirely up to you, your culture, and your confidence in working with the news media. The following decision tree will help you make a better assessment:

The first consideration is how likely the bad news will get out. If you consider all the possible ways the news could get out and decide that all are very unlikely, then your chances of negative media coverage are slim and you may opt not to communicate the news proactively.

The scenario changes when it is very likely the news will get out. Since you have a high suspicion the news will get out, you have to consider whether to use a proactive response or a reactive response. Proactive means that you release the news in a controlled way. Reactive means that you wait until the news breaks and then respond.

This decision is ultimately driven by many factors, particularly the likely tone (neutral, somewhat negative, or highly negative) of the news coverage. The proactive response has a greater likelihood of generating a neutral or somewhat negative article. By contrast, the reactive response has less likelihood of generating a neutral article or somewhat negative article since you are responding to the other side of a story that is already out.

There is neither a single nor a simple answer for these situations. Knowing how to assess them properly can improve your overall response.

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http://www.800ceoread.com/blog

The blog at 800ceoread.com covers the gamut of business books and authors. The March blog entries contained must-read recommendations, an interview with the author of The Fifth Discipline, a link to a book review, and a posting by the authors of Prepared Minds. The authors are quick to capture news about business books and link to other recommended reading lists.

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We have reviewed more than 20 books since we started the Atkinson Advisor in June 2002. The following are five we think are worth a second look:

• Animals, Inc. by Vandana Allman and Kenneth Tucker
  Uses farm animals to poke fun at and illustrate some of the problems with common management practices
  (reviewed April 2004)
• From Worst to First by Gordon Bethune with Scott Huler
  Chronicles the rise of Continental to the No. 1 carrier in a short period of time
  (reviewed December 2004)
• Master of the Senate - The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro
  Tells the story of how Johnson ruled the U.S. Senate like no senator before him
  (reviewed April 2003)
• Unlock Behaviors, Unleash Profits by Leslie Braksick
  Provides compelling strategy for linking behaviors with business goals
  (reviewed October 2002)
• Will Your Next Mistake Be Fatal? by Robert Mittelstaedt
  Explains the symptoms and strategies for avoiding multiple-mistake scenarios that can kill a business (reviewed June 2005)

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