This is the story arc of a traditional marketing message.
It is smooth, continuous, and easy. Unfortunately, it’s fantasy too, because in reality, most customer journeys to your solution look like this:
Most enterprises understand this concept, but rather than embracing it as a fact of doing business, their carefully worded messages pretend that the dips and doodles don’t exist. And so, no matter how “seamless,” “leading edge,” or “easy to use” their “solution” is, customers are dealing with simultaneous situations such as no time (StoryHow™ PitchDeck Card #5), failed experiments/setbacks (StoryHow™ PitchDeck Card #23), and all kinds of choice (StoryHow™ PitchDeck Cards 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, and 39).
And then, even if they conclude that your product is an absolute perfect fit, they still must evaluate the financial, personal, and professional risks (Jeopardy: StoryHow™ PitchDeck Card #31) associated with that decision.
Stories without challenges aren’t stories at all…they’re marketing messages. Rather than glossing over the challenges customers must face, tell a story that helps them navigate through them.