.png)
"I thought Oz was a great head," said Dorothy. "And I thought Oz was a lovely lady," said the Scarecrow. "And I thought Oz was a terrible beast," said the Tin Woodman. "And I thought Oz was a ball of fire," exclaimed the Lion.
"No, you are all wrong," said the little man.
That's the aftermath of the famous scene in The Wizard of Oz where Toto knocks over the screen and reveals the truth behind the curtain.
Each character was so sure they knew who the Wizard was. But they were all wrong.
Why? Two reasons:
A - They were thinking like themselves. Dorothy was thinking like a little girl. The Scarecrow was thinking like a brainless stuffed doll. The Tin Woodman was thinking like a soft-hearted humanitarian (even without the heart). The Lion was thinking like a cowardly lion.
So instead of convincing the Wizard to help them, they ended up taking on his mission. Imagine if they had tried to think a little like a wizard, changed their perspectives? They may have gotten the truth out of him a lot faster.
B -They were listening to what Oz said, but not reading between the lines. Just a little detective work could have given them major insight. Why was he so interested in getting rid of the Wicked Witch? Why didn't he go kill her himself, if he was so powerful? Could it be that Oz wasn't as powerful as he seemed? That he was terrified of the witch?
But none of them figured it out. They didn't do the slightest bit of investigation. Instead of uncovering the truth, they cowered in fear of approaching the wizard too closely.
They thought the wizard was the villain. But really, the villain was their own lack of understanding.
Do you ever feel like your customers are the villain? (Don't worry, I won't leak the secret.) Though an outsider wouldn't get it, I do. When you can never figure out what they want or satisfy them enough to increase your profits, they begin to intimidate you. Like when:
And each time you can't figure them out, your customers grow scarier. Until they seem as frightening as Oz's ball of fire.
The truth? Your customers aren't villains any more than Oz was. Like him, they're just people – with fears, desires, and stories of their own. The real villain is the mystery surrounding them. The curtain of confusion that keeps you from truly understanding what they want.
But here's the good news: Unlike Dorothy and her friends, who had to stumble upon the truth by accident, you can purposefully pull back that curtain. You can understand exactly what drives your customers' decisions, what they really want from your brand, and why they sometimes seem to act in contradictory ways.
That's exactly what my Tell Your Story package helps you do. Through deep customer research and story mining, we'll:
Ready to stop guessing and start understanding? Let's pull back the curtain together.