I’d only been selling the StoryHow™ PitchDeck for about a month when I received an email from Ian in London.
“I haven’t received the package,” he said, three weeks after I’d mailed his copy.
I dropped another one into the mail and proceeded to forget about the wayward parcel.
On one hand, it’s just folded cardboard that serves its purpose before being tossed unceremoniously into the recycle bin. But while fulfilling its role, a shipping box is as important as the contents that it contains.
Finding such a box for the StoryHow™ PitchDeck proved to be a challenge. It needed to meet two requirements: fit my 4.75” x 2.75” x 0.8” deck and protect it from the bumps and bruises of the shipping process. After many days of searching, I found The S-16519 Indestructo Mailer by ULINE.
“Indestructo,” I thought. Perfect.
Its marketing copy described the box as “CRUSHPROOF” (yes, in all caps) including impressive specs like: “Triple wall sides and double wall front and bottom” and 200-pound test. Evidently, the little box was even ASTM D5118 and D3951 compliant…umm…whatever that means.
And while the S-16519 certainly sounded indestructible, what did those impressive-sounding specs mean in real life? The only way to find out would be to put the box through a grueling test, but who wants to do that? I mean, every car has a 5-MPH-rated bumper on it, but do you really wanna test it?
I opened my mailbox to find Ian’s lost box among assorted letters and junk mail. Its condition looked consistent with a bumpy, three-month, twelve-thousand-mile round-trip path between Southern California and London. That’s when I realized that I had a rare opportunity to evaluate the box’s 5-MPH bumper.
The moment of truth had arrived. Had the S-16519 lived up to its Indestructo name? Had its 200-pound test, triple wall sides, ASTM D5118 and D3951 compliant construction protected the StoryHow™ PitchDeck from the perils of its three-month ordeal?
I opened the box to find…
…a perfectly protected deck of cards.
The next time you think that your product or service is too bland, boring, or unremarkable to have a story, think about the reputations of the people who depend upon it.