An Example of a Great Story! The Greek Economy…

In sales, story telling is one of the most productive, effective skills we have.

Stories sell, inspire, motivate and, most importantly, help your customers to undesatnd you and warm to you.

As a result I spend a great deal of my time helping clients to develop and refine stories that prove a point.

Here’s one of my recent favourites which is a simplistic way of explaining the Greek economy:

It is a slow day in a little Greek Village.
The rain is  beating down and the streets are deserted.
Times are tough, everybody is in  debt, and everybody lives on credit.
On this particular day a rich German  tourist is driving through the
village, stops at the local hotel and lays a  E100 note on the desk,
telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the  rooms upstairs in
order to pick one to spend the night.

The owner gives  him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked
upstairs, the hotelier  grabs the E100 note and runs next door to pay
his debt to the  butcher.

The butcher takes the E100 note and runs down the street to repay  his
debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the E100 note and heads  off to pay his bill at
the supplier of feed and fuel.

The guy at the  Farmers’ Co-op takes the E100 note and runs to pay his
drinks bill at the  tavern.

The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute  drinking at
the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to  offer him
“services” on credit.

The hooker then rushes to the hotel and  pays off her room bill to the
hotel owner with the €100 note.

The hotel  proprietor then places the E100 note back on the counter so
the rich  traveller will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveller comes  down the stairs, picks up the E100
note, states that the rooms are not  satisfactory, pockets the money,
and leaves town.

No one produced  anything.
No one earned anything.

However, the whole village is now out  of debt and looking to the
future with a lot more optimism.

And  that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package  works.