Thursday, October 30, 2014

Business Stories - The Power of the Story

"Wow", and "I knew it" are comments to the below text.  Stories don't have to be long and involved, just engaging.  Think about how to turn those facts into a story. 


The Marketing Minute
      by Marcia Yudkin, Marketing Expert and Mentor
             http://www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm

                 *******************

Which approach attracts and keeps more readers:  a no-
nonsense, just-the-facts style or information interlaced
with stories?

The folks at the BufferSocial blog decided to run a test.
They sent half their list to a page describing a step-by-
step process and the other half to a page beginning with a
story, followed by the same steps.

To their surprise, the no-story version had 300% fewer
readers making it all the way to the end of the article.

Stories involve readers.  Whether we're young or old,
sophisticated or simple, stories reach our emotions as well
as our logical minds.  They get us wanting to know what
happened next and why.

It's no wonder that of the most-viewed TED videos, 30%
begin with a story, twice as much as the next most popular
opening techniques.

Although the introductory story in the BufferSocial
experiment took up 12 paragraphs, stories can work their
magic in just one paragraph or even just one sentence.

One famous story attributed to Ernest Hemingway consists of
only six words:

"For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Friday, October 24, 2014

Business Stories - They're Everywhere

Recently a friend finished an intensive 9-month leadership training course.  Her comment was "Every speaker talked about the importance of stories for communication.  It was stressed that all leaders need to find compelling stories and be able to tell them."  It's good to see courses designed to help leaders that include storytelling. 

Yes, speaking is an important skill for leaders but if they just learn to deliver facts and figures without stories they are missing an opportunity to truly engage and educate.  Learning skills of finding the important stories to support your point is the first step.  Crafting the story to include the important facts and figures is the next step.  Finally, learning to deliver the story in an engaging manner is the third step.

Delivering a good story is easiest if the story is authentic to the leader.  That means it is something he/she believes in or has experienced first hand.  It is easiest to tell your own story but others' will work if the tale resonates. 

There are books to help, but the best way to learn is by doing.  Try telling some stories around the dinner table, then maybe weave stories into your next speech and then look for when stories are appropriate at your next C-level meetings or board meetings.  Done right, they are time savers not digressions.