Are You Telling Stories or Just Reciting Facts?

What’s the difference?

 

Great stories get remembered and retold;

Facts, on their own, just fade away and disappear!

 

I first heard this story a dozen years ago:

 

“Let me share what happened with another customer. She was close to completing a critical project when there was a terrific rainstorm, the roof caved in, and the server room flooded. Even worse, many of the systems had shorted out as the water engulfed them. All the storage, routers, switches, and servers were dead – even the ‘Uninterruptible Power Supplies’ were killed when they were inundated. The room was an absolute disaster!

 

When she heard the news and saw the photos of the flooded room, she was shocked and appalled. She called the facility right away and found the damage was even worse than the photos showed. That room was toast!

 

She thought all was lost, but because she had just implemented our Disaster Recovery software, she discovered that all the files were already on the machines at the backup facility – and she was able to complete her project ahead of time and under budget…!”

 

This story has been remembered and retold many times. I’ve heard it from DR vendors multiple times as well as a few customers!

 

Now, compare that story with the following:

 

“Our backup feature keeps you protected from disasters…” 

 

Those are facts: important, perhaps, but uninspiring. Retention will be low, and they won’t be retold!

 

Analyze your stories using this scale:

 

Level 1 – Feature Statement: you present a capability and describe what it does.

Level 2 – Advantage Statement: you present a capability, describe what it does, and communicate the potential business value for your prospect or customer.

Level 3 – Benefit Statement: you present a capability, describe what it does, and confirm the value, based on discovery.

Level 4 – Leveraging an analogy or metaphor: you use a metaphor or analogy to illustrate and connect to your prospect’s existing experiences.

Level 5 – Storytelling: you wrap the capability inside an effective, compelling story that engages, entertains, embeds, and enables recommunication of the capability and value by your audience.

 

Are you really telling stories or just reciting facts?