We tell ourselves stories about many events in our lives. These stories may be true or false, but they exist in our heads. You may not like KFC because that’s where someone dumped you in high school—that’s your story. As a culture, we don’t have a common account that KFC is the breakup capital of restaurants.
If someone ever needed to change that narrative desperately, they might come to me. But unless you’re the heir to the Yum Foods Brand (owners of KFC), I can’t see you needing me to consult.
The principle of my story consulting is, “If it’s not working, change the story.”
There are three elements that I focus on when helping someone change the story they’re telling. These elements are the product, the audience and the delivery.
1. The Product
The product is why you’re telling the story. Maybe you have a cause you’re trying to promote. You have a musical you want to have produced. You have a line of fragrant soaps you’re trying to sell. You want to entice people to love Ohio history. You have your reasons.
The first thing that must be established is if your product is good enough to sell as it is. If your soaps aren’t fragrant enough or your chicken isn’t healthy enough to get into school lunches, then you might need to go back to the drawing board with your product.
2. Your Audience
When you have a product, you must also have a group of people (the audience) you’re trying to connect with the product. Two problems can arise when you attempt to connect with your audience. You may have the wrong audience (or no audience), or you may not be telling the right story for your audience (this is the delivery section below).
Finding the right audience is both challenging and important because, in our heads, most of the things we create are perfect for lots of different people. However, as consumers, we tend to tune out when a story doesn’t resonate with us. We have to focus on selling stories to specific people. We can always tell the story another way to a different group of people.
If you’re attempting to get a musical produced, your audience needs to be people who might help you produce the musical — it’s far less critical to make it appealing to the actors who might someday perform in the musical. Similarly, it’s unlikely you should be advertising a class on Ohio history in Honolulu if you’re trying to play up the local angle.
Sometimes we have the audience before we have the product. This approach is optimal because we build something beneficial instead of struggling to marry a product to an audience.
3. Your Delivery
If your product is excellent and you’re interacting with the right audience, it’s time to focus on the delivery. This step is not about selling. Instead, you’re building a story that connects the product to the audience. The story is not only what you say; it’s how you act and how your environment feels.
If you say you care about your customers but you’re never available, your story will not resonate with the audience. In this case, your actions don’t back up your words.
People sometimes talk about elevator pitches, but no one trusts someone pitching on an elevator. When you present to potential investors, they want to ensure that you won’t waste their money. They want your delivery to show tenacity, thoughtfulness and a narrative they can root for when they invest — the story becomes about the investors’ needs. If you’re trying to promote an alcoholic’s anonymous group, setting the meetings in a glass storefront in the mall isn’t likely to bring many people.
So if the stories you’re telling aren’t working, where do you have the breakdown? How might we change it?
For inquiries, please email derek@thosestories.com.