Why Tell Me a Story
Since the beginning of time, people told stories. Some to inform. Others to persuade. Many to entertain and enlighten. We all like stories.
Early history was oral. Stories that were passed down from generation to generation.
Friends and co-workers usually tell stories about their problems. Or their successes. Or their children, last vacation. and perhaps their personal past.
Stories are engaging. They bring us closer. The sharing of experience teaches what we do not know. Or reminds us of things forgotten.
People learn to trust us by the stories we tell. They trust when learning what the story means. The purpose of the story is important. “Don’t go there, it’s dangerous.,”may protect us when we learn why something is dangerous.
Stories are more than a statement. They’re a narrative relating to events. Or explaining solutions to problems.
Build communication into stories and you have myth, oral history, and entertainment. Stories are intriguing. They energize our imagination. We create visions in our minds.
The book from which the classic film The Graduate was adapted is an example of stirring one’s imagination. Seeing the film we remember forever Mrs. Robinson as looking and sounding like Anne Bancroft. She played Mrs. Robinson.
Yet in the book, Mrs. Robinson was never described. It was left to our imagination.
Stories Sell
We’re all familiar with the rags to riches stories. Especially those selling us get-rich programs online. Virtually every webinar starts with a story. The presenter overcame obstacles en route to making a lot of money online.
He/She had few dollars and struggled. Then – Voila! A new system enabled them to break through the log jam and start making serious money online.
I just Googled ‘Rags to Riches stories’ and a great number came up. Click this link for one such article you may like. We love these stories of hard work overcoming low beginnings. American writer Horatio Alger had a fine career writing rags-to-riches stories.
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a 501(c) (3) nonprofit educational organization, was established in 1947 to dispel the mounting belief among our nation’s youth that the American Dream was no longer attainable.
Hope inspires us. I read this morning that “hope is a feeling of expectation, a desire or wish for a certain thing to happen.” No matter what our product niche we are actually selling hope. That hope is best communicated via stories.
How Stories Build Wealth
Whatever your niche nothing sells like a story. Stories bring your prospects closer to you. They may never meet you. But through your honest stories, they get to know you. And they identify with you. And they trust you.
Here’s a true story.
This morning I cleaned the kitchen floor. In the process, I noticed the mop wasn’t getting all schmutz off the laminate.
Looking closer I noticed for the first time the floor is wavy and not perfectly level. Searching online I found a solution allowing me to do a better job and get a cleaner floor.
Now, that’s a story. A real story. If I wanted I could use a link to the product I found and offer it online. There are surely other people with the same problem. Of course, I’d embellish the tale and make it more interesting.
What’s Your Story?
When studying journalism I learned the 5-W’s. Who, What, Why, Where, When, and How. The How gets a pass even though it doesn’t start with the letter W.
The 5-W’s are the framework of your story. They make a story compelling. Your story doesn’t have to be dramatic. Like my kitchen floor story, it only has to tell how you came upon your solution.
Set up your selling story with a description of a problem. Tell enough so the target reader can relate. Then tell how you found a solution to the problem. Explain the solution. Write of its ease of use and benefits over time.
Don’t Write a Novel
Keep your selling story brief and to the point. Don’t meander across the river and through the woods. Plant seeds in the mind of your reader. Let them imagine being in the same situation. Or having the same or similar problem.
Tell the reader the solution. Make it simple.
Not everyone agrees with my method. Publisher Clearing House is very successful with detailed complex mailers. They consume a lot of time preparing your entry.
That works for PCH.
I’m a bottom-line person. I like pitch brevity. Perhaps you do too.
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