3 Ways You Can Use Storytelling in Business
Every marketer’s magic potion
I used to run a restaurant, and diners would often comment on the food. Suddenly we started to get bizarre remarks about our Crème Brûlée. One lady asked me, “What alcohol do you put in your Crème Brûlée?” I told her, “Our Crème Brûlée doesn’t have alcohol in it. It’s made with just 3 ingredients — eggs, cream, and vanilla sugar.” Another diner commented, “I love your Crème Brûlée. It really has a ‘bite.’”
Then one day, after eating a spoonful of her Crème Brûlée, a woman sent it back to the kitchen, saying, “It’s burning my lips.” Our chef said, “It isn’t possible! Here are the only 3 ingredients I used to make it.”
He then got the eggs and cream out of the fridge and took the vanilla sugar down from the shelf. The eggs were fresh. He tasted the cream, and it was okay too. He then sampled the vanilla sugar and hit the roof. It was hot and spicy!
It turned out that a catering-size container labeled “Vanilla Sugar” was white pepper. And it was half empty! So for weeks, we’d been serving Crème Brûlée laced with white pepper instead of vanilla sugar.
I guarantee that the next time you eat Crème Brûlée, you will remember this story.
Are you boring your clients with data, facts, and figures? Or are you making a lasting impression through storytelling?
Something unique happens when information comes in the form of a story rather than from data or facts. Our brains light up like a switchboard as neural activity increases fivefold. With more of your brain at work, the chances of remembering the information increase exponentially.
Stories also increase the amount of oxytocin synthesized by the brain. Oxytocin is the empathy chemical that sends a signal that we should care about someone — friend or foe? Good stories tap into your client’s emotions. Facts speak to the mind, but stories speak to the heart. It’s been proven that buying decisions are made based on emotion — a gut feeling. Only afterward does the intellect step in and rationalize the decision we’ve made.
I hear you say that business is all about facts, performance, pricing, service, and not feelings. But you’re wrong! Emotions will lead your clients to buy from you. Do they feel that you’re reliable, trustworthy, competent, confident, responsive, honest, and capable? Stories can conjure up these feelings in a client.
Storytelling in business should focus on the human element of your product or service.
Here are 3 ways that you can use storytelling in business:
- Use a story (instead of PowerPoint slides) to deliver your messages and communicate your ideas. The narrative should follow the typical story arc structure: the setting, the problem or obstacle, the action that was taken, the result.
- Use examples, analogies, or anecdotes to illustrate specific points. This is often easier in a business meeting.
- Engage your clients with storytelling techniques. Here you don’t need to tell actual stories. Just make your client see (or hear, taste, touch, smell, if relevant) and feel so that the brain goes into “storytelling” mode. For example, you can ask your client to “imagine” a situation that will evoke certain feelings.
You don’t need to have your own stories.
You can use other people’s stories as well. One of my clients recently told me that his boss was a great storyteller. He would remember all her tales when they went to meetings together. Then when he was on his own, he would retell those same stories by saying, “My manager always tells the story about….”
Be on a mission to collect good stories about your company, product, or service. Keep a database of ideas:
- How did your company come into existence?
- How did a product or service come about?
- How has your product or service solved a problem for a client?
- What has been your most impressive success?
Takeaway and conclusion
On a recent training that I was doing for a bank, one of the delegates gave what could have been a relatively dry presentation on options. This participant told a story about the origin of the term “plain vanilla,” which is often used when referring to specific swap options. It comes from American soft serve ice cream vendors. Vanilla was seen as the generic starting point. It was the cheapest, with everything else (other flavors, toppings, sprinkles) being up-charged. I will remember his presentation for a long time, simply because of that memorable story.
Maya Angelou, American civil rights activist, and author, got it right. She said: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Use stories to tap into your clients’ emotions. They’ll be more likely to buy from you, and they’ll remember your product or service for a long time to come.