3000 Pay Phones

What do you do when the need for your product is completely obliterated? I’ll tell you…

Hey storytellers.

Sometimes the story is the story. Super meta, I know.

Stick with me while I tell you a short story and explain what you can do
with it.

The day had gotten away from me and I still had to run to the bank. It was nearly 2pm when I finished and I needed a quick bite before my next meeting.

The coffee shop next door assured me a predicable sandwich and latte to get through the afternoon. I ordered, and rather than running out to eat on the go I decided to sit for a minute.

I tucked into my sandwich and latte and began wasting time on Instagram for a few minutes (as you do). No sooner did I get one bite and a few feed scrolls in and he headed in my direction. Ugh…here we go.

He was elderly, shuffling slowly and wearing a nylon jacket covered in patches with logos I’d never seen before. He got close to my table, gestured at my phone, and said, “How did we ever live without these things?”

Great…another conversation about the atrocity of technology nowadays. But then he pulled his iPhone from his back pocket, held it up, and smiled. So I thought, okay, maybe this will be a different conversation.

He went on to tell me that he used to own 3000 pay phones and generated, “millions of dollars in nickels, dimes, and quarters.” When cellphones took over he turned his pay phones into anchors.

I thought it was just a metaphor for how his business tanked and he was stuck with all that “dead weight” (get it?). But something made me think he may have been speaking literally. I asked what he meant by “anchors?”

He explained that he dismantled his pay phones, recycled the metal, and had it made into anchors that he sold to be used on boats. The pay phones that had made him a ton of coin (get it…I’m on FIRE!) then earned him an income a second time around as anchors.

Right, so, why did I tell you this story? Because…if you owned the coffee shop how great would it be to share that story rather than yet another one about how good your coffee is (snooze!)?

In this case, that coffee shop offered me a moment, a connection, an experience that I’ve now retold dozens of times.

What is a byproduct of what you offer that can make an emotional connection that your product / service can not?

If you don’t have it already, my free R.S.P.C.T. Behavioral Storytelling cheat sheet gives you a framework for crafting compelling stories. Grab it and see what it sparks for you.

Thanks for reading.

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Cheers and remember, success finds those who tell compelling stories.