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Throughout time, stories have been used to pass
complex information across generational and geographic boundaries. In
recent times, stories seem to have lost some of their credibility as
businesses demand more facts, figures and statistics.
If we could categorise the value of stories, would
they gain more credibility? We know intuitively the best presenters and
business trainers spice up their language with asides, snippets,
anecdotes, case studies and, well, stories. A common marketing tool is the
case study - a report of how a customer benefited from using a particular
product. What is a case study if not a story?
Stories have a very simple structure - they are an
account of events that are happening not here and not now.
Your brain is an analogue computer, so it is able to
represent an infinite variety of signals, or thoughts - unlike a digital
computer which can only represent the numerical values zero and one.
Analogue computers have only one drawback - like Roman numerals, they
cannot represent things that do not exist, or the number zero. Imagine an
empty box. What was in it? For a digital computer, the value of "not
zero" is definitely "one". For your brain, the value of
"not zero" could be one, two, three, a turnip, freedom, purple,
accelerate, a star or any other thought that you could have. Of course, we
take information from our environment to put our thoughts into context. If
that empty box had "oranges" written on the side, you would have
a framework for the absence of oranges.
Stories are about someone else, somewhere else, at
some other time. In order for your brain to decode the language of the
stories, you interpret the events as being about you, here and now.
Therefore, you can embed information in stories which relates directly to
the audience but which they would critically filter out if that
information were presented directly. Stories engage our emotions, too, and
we know that emotional content plays a very important role in long term
memory. In other words, when your emotions are 'switched on' you learn
more effectively. Facts, figures, graphs and statistics rarely incite any
emotion apart from boredom. Stories can arouse curiosity, instill hope,
pity, fear or anger. Stories can excite, calm and thrill. Stories can
divert the conscious attention of the audience away from the real
information you want to convey to them.
Stories are an immensely powerful means of
communication. Of course, you might not use a story to say "Our
studies show that 23% of customers using this product realised a 15%
increase in gross profits over a 12 month period", but then who
really cares about that? Come on, be honest! If your intention is to get
the audience to think "this product is worth considering" then
take them on an emotional journey from doubt, through curiosity and on to
an eagerness to learn more. Your audience is guaranteed to remember your
presentation over anyone else's if you put this advice into practice - and
isn't that the point?
Here's an example of a story. You may or may not
think it's the best story in the world, but it demonstrates that a story
can be written to suit any intended communication or audience. If you
don't like the story then I challenge you to send me a better one! And
that's a challenge to prove to yourself what a naturally talented
storyteller you already are!
There was once a salesman for a company that made
special metal alloys for weapons. He had traveled the world, selling his
company’s products to every developed nation. He loved his job and he
couldn’t help doing it, even on holiday. One year, he took his holiday
in the Amazon Rainforest (it could happen!) and he came across a tribe of
Indians who were hunters.
He asked them what they used for their arrow tips
and they said “We hunt a wild cat that lives in the forest. We use its
fur for clothing, its meat for food and it’s teeth for arrow tips. They
are very sharp and easily penetrate the skin of small animals.” The
salesman asked how many teeth could be used from each cat and they said
“Four”. Then he asked how accurate their hunters’ archery skills
were. They said “Every child serves a ten year apprenticeship to become
a master archer. If they cannot shoot arrows straight, they run out of
cat’s teeth and the village people have no meat”.
So the salesman immediately recognised a great
opportunity, and he also realised that he needed to keep his best product
until last so that he could build up his sale. He asked the leader of the
village “If I could show you a way to hunt more cats, and bigger
animals, with a limitless supply of arrow tips and reduce your
apprenticeship for archers to just one year, would you be interested?”
The wise, yet strangely gullible village leader said “Of course, can you
do a presentation to my board tomorrow?”
So, the salesman showed the villagers arrow tips
made from steel. They were heavier than cat’s teeth but harder and
sharper. They could buy a limitless supply of arrow tips (because they
happened to have a gold mine in their village that they didn’t
understand the value of) so the hunters didn’t have to be so accurate.
With just some basic training in how to use a bow and arrow, anyone could
hunt a cat. The villagers rejoiced.
After a few days, the salesman returned and showed
the villagers his titanium alloy arrow tips. They were as sharp as steel
yet as light as a cat’s tooth. Now that everyone in the village was a
hunter, he had more users to demonstrate the product to. Sure enough, the
arrow flew further than the steel tipped arrow. To the salesman’s
surprise, the villagers said “yeah, very nice, but we’re happy with
our steel arrows”. The salesman said “But you’ll use fewer arrows
because these will fly further” and the villagers said “So?”
The next day the salesman returned with tungsten
carbide tipped arrows, and had the same reaction as the day before. He was
very confused – normally his customers would be getting more and more
excited.
He decided to go back to the village and show them
his best product. “Look”, he said, “I have here arrow tips made with
tungsten carbide tips, titanium alloy bodies and with a depleted Uranium
filling.” He fired one at a tree and it went straight through, like a
hot knife through butter. The villagers said “Impressive, but we don’t
eat trees”. Now the salesman was really upset. Couldn’t these people
see the applications of his marvellous arrow tips? Perhaps they were too
stupid too understand. His wife had warned him about this when he left her
by the poolside in Rio a week earlier.
The wise village leader said “We can see your
arrow tips are indeed marvellous, but remember we are a simple people with
simple needs. Your steel arrow tips already represent a step change in
technology for us, enabling greater exploitation of our natural habitat
without disturbing our learning based culture.” It turned out that a
management consultant had been on holiday there just the week before.
“Your top of the range arrow tips are too advanced for us. We have
neither the skills nor needs to exploit their full potential, therefore we
only require something that is one level better than what we have today.
Besides, I’m going on a dream quest this afternoon and I’ll be off my
head on psycho-active mushrooms for a few days, so I can’t make a
decision until next week”
The salesman learned a very important lesson on that
holiday - that he shouldn’t leave his wife alone in Rio with only a book
for company, but that’s another story.
Do you know what else he learned?
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