2021-02-12
Let's imagine this scenario: we are all in a room. There are two gentlemen on stage to make their pitch. The goal is to get investment to get their project off the ground, a new coffee brand. Let's listen:
Pitch A: "Good morning, I'm here to talk to you about coffee. Everyone knows that the Portuguese can't live without coffee. In fact, I can tell you that 80% of the Portuguese drink coffee every day, and 42.3% even drink two coffees a day. It is a business with great potential, immense, even with the strong competition that we all know. We will be more competitive because our capsules will be cheaper because the material we use blah blah blah..."
Pitch B: "Hi. When my grandmother was 23, she got on a plane to Vietnam without really knowing what was waiting for her. She wanted to see the other side of the world. She told me that she met wonderful people, ate a lot of junk rice and travelled a lot by train, back and forth. Until, near a town called Da Lat, they took her to a coffee plantation. It was beautiful to die for, she told me at a family lunch. That coffee bean you have on your table, I brought it from there. I had to go there, so many years later, to find out what my grandmother was talking about. Feel the aroma. It's different, isn't it? That's why I learned all about coffee and created this brand..."
Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools in sales.
The A pitch mentions important things, of course, we have to know the market, where we are moving, who the competitors are, how much it costs, what benefits it will bring to the investor or client. The B pitch seeks to engage the audience, takes us on a story, throws in the heart, the emotion, the empathy. It is likely that pitch B will touch on the issues that pitch A raised, but it is more unlikely that the opposite will happen. And this is important: stories grab customers or prospects. Or investors. So a good story is a great calling card.
Stories tell about us, as a product or idea, tell who we are, where we came from, where we are going, what we dream of, what we want to offer, solve, improve. Sell.
Being authentic, genuine and true is key. The story has to be seductive, unforgettable, intelligent and can be cooked up with some humour.
The story must be "magnetic", says this New York Times article on storytelling. "As humans, we know stories work, but when we get into business we forget that...," a professor at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Leadership Education told that newspaper.
We've all been blown away by a good story. The trick is to use the brain to our advantage and science explains why. The biggest ally is oxytocin, the 'love hormone', which is released during orgasm but is also associated with trust and empathy. A North American professor who studies oxytocin, from Claremont Graduate University, carried out an investigation to understand the impact of storytelling on this hormone, reveals the same article in the "New York Times". Participants in that academic work had their blood drawn before and after watching videos of people-based stories. What happened? An increase in oxytocin was observed in those who watched such people-based stories, leading them to help more, donated money to a charity associated with such a story, for example.
Any publication on social networks, any advertising, any article that is published on the company blog must respect the brand's history, vision, values. In other words, you have to tell stories with the right story. If we tell stories, let them be authentic and true. The aim is to generate emotion, empathy, sympathy and interest, either in the company or in the product you are trying to sell.
Training the story we are going to tell is important - repeat, record and listen, repeat, refine, perfect. This should not be confused with a loss of authenticity, with mechanisation, but rather with getting so comfortable with our story that we tell it on autopilot. It is equally important to know your audience, recalls this important New York Times article, "How to Tell a Story". If they are strangers, you can always follow the advice of TED conference curator Chris Anderson: win the audience immediately by becoming likeable or revealing vulnerability through humour or sharing something personal; increase the audience's curiosity by asking a question that they will later answer during the presentation or pitch.
"When we communicate, if we want to convey a captivating and inspiring message, we cannot forget to include a generous dose of exciting stories - dramatic or comic - with powerful plots, charismatic characters, real dialogues and a surprising narrative, capable of pinning the audience to the chair. And the most interesting stories are those told in the first person", explained Sandra Duarte Tavares in "Público", who spoke about the power of stories in communication. "Storytelling is also a powerful tool in the business field. Marketing experts realised very early on the power of stories in sales success. They realised that they can sell a product or service without even talking about it. How? By telling stories. Stories establish a strong emotional relationship with the consumer, influencing them to make a decision."
In this more recent text, the same author wrote: "The best speakers in the world realised that by telling stories in any public speech, their message produced a more positive impact on their audience. They realized early on that it is the stories that people remember long after listening to a speaker. And why is that? Because the images that the audience creates by listening to your stories make your message much more real. The more visual they are, the better! And if they are filled with humour, success is guaranteed. Stories provoke exactly the same emotion that we feel when we watch a good film".
We finish with three tips from this "Forbes" article, hitching a ride on the author of the book "Story Wars", Jonah Sachs. This author starts by saying not to start a story with facts, which in these times can be manipulated, even looked at sideways. "Build your stories around shared values", he advises, comparing it to the way parents talk to their children. They don't bet on statistics or incontrovertible facts, preferring instead to tread common ground, simplifying the story to culminate in some kind of lesson or learning. After all, a story focused on values and humanity will be much more shareable, whether by word of mouth or on social media, than one that is full of historical facts and statistics.
Sachs also reminds us that stories should not be about us:
"A good storyteller doesn't say how good he is. He tells a story about someone we can relate to."
Plus, storytellers should forget exaggeration and find their voice. Exaggeration, assertiveness, gravity in tone do not help get the message across. "The voice of God doesn't work anymore. [The speaker] cannot stay behind the curtain. People expect a personal narrative," the author explains.
