The Most Impactful Tools Your Business Has Are The Stories
What’s the old adage? “Facts tell and stories sell.”
A simple truth that often gets lost in today’s technical and complex world. Client, your personal, your company…
In this article I’ll give you some insights on exactly how to use stories to expand whatever your business is, but first you have to understand why they are so effective.
Here’s the short course….
Human beings tend to see the world from the lens of their own experience and knowledge. They tend to believe that they see it the right way. Unless they are actively pursuing learning in an area of interest in which they know there is much they don’t know, they will initially resist new information, especially if that information is connected to someone trying to do business/make a sale, because now this will bring in the question of motive.
Unless they are open to learning, they are quickly resisting. They will assess all information critically and judgmentally based on whether they agree or not.
This is because it is a logic first approach.
Stories Impact Emotionally and Open up the Pathway for Logic to be Received.
Stories are entirely different. They connect emotionally first. They are not naturally judged as to right or wrong. The listener, because people are self-focused first in general, will feel the story and envision it as if they were present. This allows them to connect to what the story is about and relate to it personally.
This makes room for the listener to feel a desire to know more. To want to have the outcome they are hearing about or one that is unique to them that is related through the story.
Once the emotional pathway is opened, and the person is interested in the details that might be applicable to them, now the logic and facts are well-received. It’s a simple, comfortable, natural way for humans to interact and an awesome way to do business. (We didn’t hear all about logic and facts of nursery stories when we were kids, just the stories and then the lessons…)
The Three Kind That Serve You in Business
You should be using three different kinds of stories in building a business or developing clients in general: Your story, the companies story, and client outcome stories.
Your story is an easy one. People want to do business with people who are passionate about what they do. This will come out when you share your story about how you came to be doing whatever it is you are doing. It also speaks of your belief in what you are doing which allows the potential client to believe it could be a positive thing for them too.
Your company story is important because it humanizes what is otherwise bricks, mortar, technology, and other stuff. You want to share the history of the founders and why they are/were passionate about helping people, etc. This brings warmth into the discussion.
Client stories serve as further augmentation that your products/services might help this person too. It’s a little more social proof.
In your training, be it for yourself and for your teams/employees you should train the first two extensively while providing access to the third thing. People need to know who the company is and how to talk about that. They need to be able to share their story, both of how they came to the work, and how something your company markets has impacted their personal life.
You can train presentation technique until you turn blue, but you will never remotely have as much impact from a pure logic/fact based presentation than you will from a well-told story followed up with the important details.
In the video, I share a few more nuggets about how to make a story powerful that are applicable to all kinds of business.
Was This helpful for you? feel Free to share it with others.
Many Blessings,
Todd
P.S. Have you ever considered having a coach? If you are considering one to help you make progress towards your goals, help you see the forest for the trees, and guide you on the path to success, reach out to me and let’s talk.
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