Stories That Stick

Which is why I warn you to choose your images wisely. The temptation is often to, while you tell a story, flash photos from the story on the screen. Telling a story about your kids? Here’s a picture. Telling a story about you waterskiing? Here’s a picture. And while that seems like the way to go, it creates a cognitive bypass and, in doing so, violates the power of the co-creative process. Give them the image and they won’t create it for themselves. And now you’ve lost your cognitive edge

The most important piece of crafting the new normal is to use it as an opportunity to come full circle. End the story back at the beginning, except with the benefit of the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding you didn’t have in the normal

A restaurant? A town hall? A regular Tuesday in mid-June? A stressful Friday during the holidays? Check!
And last, with your particular audience in mind, include details so it sounds familiar to them. Throughout the whole story they should be saying to themselves, I’ve felt that. I understand that. That sounds about right. Yep. Yes. Yes. Yes. Check

Include details about the identifiable character, details that will paint the picture and sound familiar to the audience. Check!
Include the emotions, what they (or you if you’re the character in the story) were feeling or hopeful for or thinking as the situation was unfolding. Check!
Include the particular moment in time and place that this was happening.

• Choose a value story if you want more effective sales and marketing.
• Choose a founder story if you want to increase confidence and differentiate.
• Choose a purpose story if you want to align and engage your team.
• Choose a customer story if you want better sales, marketing, and credibility

What was your most meaningful sale?
• Do you remember a time when you lost a sale?
• Who is your most satisfied customer?
• Who is your most unsatisfied customer?
• What was your most embarrassing moment?
• When has someone said you couldn’t accomplish something?
• What was the moment you knew the work you do is worth it

• When have you had to be resourceful in order to survive?
• What was the worst day in the history of your business?
• When have you made a customer cry? For good reasons? For bad?
• When have you stopped a customer from crying?
• What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done in business?
• Whose life is different because of your business?
• What is your proudest moment in your work or business?
• What one event or decision in your business history could your company not have survived without?
• When have you been surprised or mistaken about someone or something in your business?
• What was your first sale

If you know they think your product is too expensive, you know to look for stories that illustrate how your product saves them money in the long run. If you know they’re resistant to change, you know to look for a story that illustrates the pain of not switching to your solution

Think about firsts.

I’ll never forget when I first met my husband. Or the first story I told. I’ll never forget my first summer job or the first real storytelling keynote I gave. I’ll never forget the first time a client called me absolutely giddy about the response they received from a story they told and the realization, as I hung up the phone, that perhaps this whole thing was bigger than I originally thought. I’ll never forget my first real heartbreak or the first time I went to spin class. Behind each of these memories is an important story that could be told. In fact, I’m taking notes as I write. So many stories are coming back to me that I’d forgotten about

Why Customer Stories Are More Credible
The customer story is in a world of its own because it eliminates the nagging voice that questions whether or not you can believe a story if it’s the seller telling it. With a customer story, it’s not the company, it’s a person—just like you—who tried it and loved it and has nothing to gain by telling you