People don’t make decisions based on logic alone. They need to connect emotionally with your message —and use logic to justify it later. That’s where storytelling comes in. A good story doesn’t just inform; it makes people feel. And when they feel, they remember. More importantly, they act.
Read on to understand why stories work, what makes a story unique, and how to ensure your points land by wrapping them in stories.
Read MoreBreakouts are the moment when your attendees are given the space to explore, discuss and internalize a key message at your conference. They’re where concepts are made real and tangible.
Focus your breakouts on the content and skills you most want people to hold onto when they leave, and make sure they don’t turn into just another presentation. Consider these rules of thumb to make your breakouts truly effective.
Read MoreIt’s not all that uncommon for salespeople to be armed with a presentation or demo slide deck that was put together by the marketing department. The purpose of a “single source of truth” like the corporate-approved slide deck is to ensure that all salespeople have the same talking points and are communicating a consistent narrative in the marketplace. This is a noble goal, but one of the unintended consequences of a company-wide narrative in the form of a slide deck is that it can become stale and devoid of any kind of personal, authentic touch.
Read MoreIf your job is to sell your company’s products or services, you need to know how to communicate their value in a compelling way. When we work with salespeople, they already understand that storytelling can be a powerful tool for them, but they struggle with how to leverage stories appropriately. Sometimes they can come up with a story, but it’s too literal and leads them down a rabbit hole of demo-ing their product rather than actually telling a story. Other times they drone on and on, losing their audience along the way. Sometimes they just can’t come up with a story idea, even if they know they should be telling stories! Here are some tips and tricks to get you started if you’re having the same challenges.
Read MoreRecently we delivered our Influential Storytelling program to a sales team that was interested in the content for two reasons: They understood the value of storytelling in their sales process and wanted to bone up their skillset, but they also saw storytelling as a crucial part of developing internal institutional knowledge about the product, their customer success stories, and more. As the company grew, the sales team was experiencing a lot of turnover. The Director of Sales wanted to capture and codify the institutional stories that everyone on the team should be familiar with and leverage in the sales process
With this objective in mind, we recommended they establish two routines after exploring our Influential Storytelling content.
Read MoreAs bootstrapped founders, we may not find ourselves about to give a formal pitch in front of suited VCs, but we do constantly interact with potential customers, partners and other stakeholders in our networks. Every one of these people should know what you do and most importantly why you do it.
You’ll know it’s time to tell a story about what you do and why when you get questions like these:
Why did you start your business?
What are you up to lately?
Tell me about yourself
Here’s how you can craft a version of your story that will feel authentic and extemporaneous, but also be an influential and powerful representation of you and your business...
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