one of the most powerful tools you can use in your business if you're a small business or
indeed if you have a big business is the power of story the power of storytelling
everybody loves the story since we were kids we've been fascinated with
once upon a time and bedtime stories and so on but even nowadays when you get older movies books
companies the story of companies the story of brand and so on is incredibly powerful
incredibly important because we all relate to the underdog we all like to see conflict and the
overcoming of difficulties and conflict because we can relate to that we can relate to failure
we can relate to conflict and difficulties in our life and we like to see other people
overcoming conflicts overcoming difficulties in their lives because it gives us not just
encouragement but it allows us to make sense of our life if we are relying on facts or data alone
it's virtually impossible to persuade anybody to take action or to do what we want them to do
if on the other hand you are a small business owner and you're trying to build your business
or build a brand then story is a great way to do it because our brain is hardwired for
story and we retain story much much better than we retain data you're not going to bore people into
submission you're not going to pummel them over the head with data alone because it won't work
but story will story allows us as people to make sense of our life and no two persons
story is the same we all have different stories each person's story each business story is unique
if i'm a solicitor or if i'm an accountant or a tax consultant then what i do in terms of my skill
and my professional training and so on is pretty much similar to other solicitors for example
if i'm a tax consultant or an accountant precisely the same situation exists how do i differentiate
myself though from my competitors for example i do it with story because we all have a different
story we've all overcome difficulties to get where we are and people like story people are
hardwired for story from a very very early age they say that there's three ways of persuading
one is with rhetoric and data alone and data then you're asking people to lead to a deductive
conclusion in other words here's the data and the conclusion that you must draw the inference
she must draw is this but we know that when the data is being spoon fed to us the likelihood
is that negative data is not in the picture we're not being told about the negative stuff
a second way to try to persuade is true coercion this is a form of bullying or abuse or seduction
it uses plenty of emotion but it lacks the data and it's only short term people will
only be bullied or co-or coerced or abused or persuaded in this way over a short period of time
story though on the other hand the story takes the emotion from the coercion piece and takes the data
from the rhetoric deductive reasoning piece and allows the person to make sense of what you're
telling them so your story is absolutely powerful and it is compelling and it plays or should play
a massive role in your business in developing growing your business in acquiring clients and
in your own brand building there's four elements of a good story first leaders conflict or
trouble and strife secondly where is the underdog ideally you or your client should be the underdog
tree you shouldn't star yourself it's not an autobiography and so don't talk about your
uh universal years for example tell the story of how an inspirational professor may have
opened your eyes to some a profound truth make the professor the star and you are the lucky bystander
so don't make yourself to star and then the fourth element of it is what do you want the reader or
listener to do after they've heard your story what kind of story would trigger that action in that
particular person that's the question you need to ask yourself so generally there's some sort
of three or four or five stages in a good story you've got an inciting incident you have conflict
you have complications then you have some sort of a crisis and then you have a climax and you
have a resolution one of the most popular videos that i put on my youtube channel and which has
resonated greatly with people um over a period of time is a video that i made called my origin story
this is the story of how of how i basically started off and lost everything and that was my
conflict or my inciting incident as it were when i lost everything and then my back was to the wall
and went back to college and studied law became a solicitor and so on but obviously my story is
not one of the seamless um unhindered progress or success my story has had plenty of ups and downs
it's had conflict and it's a video called my origin story you'll find it on my youtube channel
but the point is that people relate to other people's difficulties other people's
stories why because they themselves face difficulties their own particular unique
difficulties in their life we all have a story we all have a unique uh compelling story and
uh if you want to persuade if you want to influence if you want to grow your business
then the story that you tell about yourself or the story that you tell about your business
is one that or is something that can be very very compelling very powerful in the growth
of your business anyway hope you enjoy this video if you do i'd appreciate if you gave it
the thumbs up down below and you may be interested in subscribing to my youtube channel thanks