![]() “I’d love to have you over for a few days.” Knowing when and how to tell stories is a powerful skill that will immediately boost your effectiveness in selling anything.Practice setting - and sticking to - your boundaries The latter way is an excellent hook that gets your listeners' attention immediately.Īnother example of a hook: Remember that at the beginning of my Icelandic fridge magnet story I told you the best lesson I ever learned about the power of sales stories was when I went on vacation to Iceland? Yeah, that's a hook. ![]() I thought I'd tell you about that." The former way is awkward and likely met with resistance from your audience. Something happened last week that completely changed my thinking on how to run this department. And I'll begin by telling you a story," try something like, "Let's get today's meeting started. For example, instead of saying, "Let's get today's meeting started. A hook in this case is a single sentence or phrase that demonstrates to your audience why they should listen to your story. Storytelling coach Paul Smith explains that you should always start your story with a great hook. Related: Your Business Can Be Boring but Your Marketing Can't This is the most effective way to start your story. For example, in the middle of your story don't say things like "Eventually what happened is, but at that time I didn't know better." You just ruined your story! Don't sabotage yourself by prematurely telling your audience how the story turned out. Don't bias your audience by saying things like "Let me start today's presentation with a story."Ī main reason why stories make people pay attention to you is the suspense factor - we all want to know what happened next. Many people in a work environment have a negative reaction to the word "story," associating it with being unprofessional or inefficient. The "s" word in this case is the word "story." Don't mention that word, unless your audience is a bunch of 5-years-olds. If you think it's worth your audience's time, don't apologize. ![]() When you start a story that way, the message you're communicating is "this story is not important." Then why should your audience listen to you? If you don't think your story is that important, don't tell it. They begin by saying things like "I'm sorry, but can I tell you a story about this?" or "I promise it will be really quick," as though they were apologizing for doing something wrong. Many people don't know how to start telling a story, especially at work. Don't apologize or ask permission for telling a story. It builds relationships and inspires your audience/customers/stakeholders to make decisions beyond pure logical calculation.īut, when should you tell stories in the selling process and how should you tell them? Let's start with how not to start a story. It differentiates your product offering from your competitors' and makes it more memorable. It gives meaning to a product that is otherwise impersonal. Now when I gifted that magnet to friends, I'd tell them that story as well, so that they'd know I wasn't gifting them a cheap piece of wood, but an embodiment of Icelandic magic and blessing.Īnd that is the power of a well-told story.
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