![\"\"](\"http:\/\/treypennington.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/iStock_000012737015XSmall.jpg\" "\\"iceberg\\"")
\u201cThat\u2019s only the tip of the iceberg,\u201d is what we say when we want our hearers to know the challenge, problem, or opportunity is deeper, more expansive, more significant than what we see. In human interaction, what we SEE\u2014skin color, clothes, grooming, posture, and facial expression\u2014are only the tip of the iceberg of who a person actually is.<\/p>\n
Just like most of an iceberg is hidden, so a human being\u2019s backstory is out-of-sight. If you wanted to see the rest of the iceberg, you\u2019d have to do a deep dive underneath the water (which would be very cold, I presume). You\u2019d have to do some research, get special gear, probably make more than one trip to berg, and in general, make a serious investment.<\/p>\n
If you want to see a human\u2019s backstory, you\u2019ll have to make a serious investment, too. However, you can get started right away by making a determined choice to pause before you make those snap judgements about what you see in others. Instead, run what you think about what you see through the backstory filter by reminding yourself, \u201cThere\u2019s more to this story.\u201d Then, temper your words and actions with compassion.<\/p>\n
For companies, it means valuing the backstory by making a commitment to listen, explore, and discover your customers\u2019 backstories\u2014asking where were they before the discovered you, understanding what fears, hopes, dreams, and goals are, discovering what fuels their imaginations and actions.<\/p>\n
When you take the time to value another\u2019s backstory, you gain insight into why people do what they do. You\u2019ll be better prepared to actually help them do what they want to do.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your customer\u2019s backstory? What\u2019s yours?<\/p>\n
Trey Pennington<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThat\u2019s only the tip of the iceberg,\u201d is what we say when we want our hearers to know the challenge, problem, or opportunity is deeper, more expansive, more significant than what we see. In human interaction, what we SEE\u2014skin color, clothes, grooming, posture, and facial expression\u2014are only the tip of the iceberg of who a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,54],"tags":[977,647,976,975,978,466,979],"class_list":["post-2344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-treypennington","tag-backstory","tag-customer","tag-discover","tag-explore","tag-hidden","tag-listen","tag-uncover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2348,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions\/2348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}