My MELON Man
"Have I told you the story about my ‘MELON’ man?
He just knew which would be the PERFECT melon for me.
I lived in France for ten years, and one of my favourite things to do every Saturday morning would be to go to the local market. It was an experience from the start, with beautiful sights and smells of fresh bread, roast chickens, cheese, meats, and of course, the absolutely wonderful freshly picked, in-season fruit and vegetables. Visiting the market was serious stuff because, as you know, the French take their food very seriously!
My favourite stall though, and the one that I always saved until last, was the man selling melons. I loved it because firstly, he only sold melons (or he may have had some garlic and a few tomatoes too).
Secondly, he made me understand just how important it is to know your melon and treat it with respect.
Finally, he always had a plate of juicy slices for us to taste, he genuinely made choosing my melon an absolute delight!
“Quand est-ce vous allez le manger, votre melon? When will you be eating your melon?”
Sometimes it would be later that day, or sometimes for Sunday lunch; it didn't matter when it was or what I replied because what happened next was the secret. He would carefully pick up each melon from his box, have a smell, a squeeze and a good look, and choose THE melon that he knew would be just perfect for me. Not too ripe, not too hard, just right!
He was the perfect business owner:
he had chosen a great niche and specialism
he was the go-to melon man
he was an expert in his product
he attracted more customers with his plate of melon slices, letting us get a taste of his product or service
he asked the right questions and then listened.
He always found THE perfect melon for my needs which meant I would go back time after time!
Using analogies and telling stories is probably my favourite and most effective way of creating engaging content. I shared my melon man story a few years ago to my FREE group and across my socials, and I still have people refer to it today or remind me about him.
Communicate with Purpose
As a small business owner, I know that you don’t always have the luxury of time, which means that you have no time to waste either.
So, when you sit down to think about your messaging and what you want to communicate with your customers, potential customers, and wider audience, be super intentional about it.
What do I mean by being intentional? Everything must reflect your vision, business goals, and objectives. In other words, I want you to ask yourself each time, what are you trying to achieve? And why are you doing what you are doing? It sounds super simple and obvious doesn’t it?
Most of my clients laugh at me now and repeat back to me, “But why?!” Because I am constantly bringing them back to this and challenging them on each aspect of their business. It is so important to focus on the right things, as we can easily get distracted or caught up doing lots of other things, spinning lots of plates and not moving forward because we have lost track of why we are doing it. Get into the habit of asking yourself why, especially when it comes to your communication, whoever you want to communicate with.
Be clear on why you are doing it, what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it.
Ask yourself why you are creating this piece of content today, why you are writing that email or creating that particular post for Facebook or TikTok. Decide what your goal is and then create with that intention and goal in mind. Choose one of your customers, one who fits well with the type of profile you are looking to attract more of, ask yourself how you want them to feel and what you want them to takeaway and then design your communication with them in mind.
How can you be the “MELON” man for your industry or field?
I’d love to hear your story, please share it with me at lucy@lrcomms.co.uk.