Using Storytelling to Sell the Benefits of Change and Better Business Process Management
In September of last year, the CEO of SAP hired a chief storyteller for their organisation. It wasn't to entertain staff at a work party or to work in the creche either, this role related to sales, marketing and communications.
“...he needed someone from B2C who was able to wrap SAP’s facts up in emotion to form a story. Because even if a salesperson persuades a customer how great their offering is with facts, they only did so on an intellectual basis, and buyers are not inspired to act on reason alone. To buy, the customers must not only think it’s right, but more important, it has to feel right...today neuroscience is able to prove that emotions not only don’t get in the way of rational thinking, but more important that emotions are essential to decision making.”
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Day to day, we may easily assume that storytelling is something from our childhood, an aspect of culture and something for our leisure time. What businesses are coming to a better understanding of today, is the power a story has to not only explain complex information and to function as the 'glue' for the human brain to retain data, but also as one of the best methods to change someone's mind and help them to see the benefits of the opposing side to their own argument or belief. According to Naomi Fein and Helen Kuyper who work in storytelling and graphic harvesting, stories inspire us to take action; the crux of change in any context.
Combating Belief Perseverance or the 'Anti-Story'
According to Naomi and Helen, who facilitated a a workshop entitled 'Storytelling for Professionals' in Dublin recently, the more you tell someone they are wrong using facts and reason, the more they believe themselves to be right. It's hard for people to not 'auto-respond' to what you're telling them by looking for reasons to justify their currently held understanding or belief. Our defense mode kicks in, rather than an openness to change and it can be our downfall. Storytelling is one of few things that can combat what they Naoimi and Helen refer to as the 'anti-story'. Another method of dealing with the anti-story is to ask them to imagine and explain the other viewpoint.
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Creating Visuals to Gauge Understanding
If someone can't draw what you're telling them, you're not being complete or clear enough. When presenting to or teaching a group, ask them if they can draw what you've just explained to them. If they can't, you need a different way to tell them. Many process professionals will understand this, being well used to enlisting the help of process diagrams, value stream maps, diagrams and graphs to explain information. It's also why we commonly rely on analogies to explain abstract concepts; they allow our brain to visualise a process or an idea.
Looking for the Story
There are stories in every level of an organisation as soon as you begin to look for them and ask people questions that help bring them out. There are five elements to a great story, so when you're looking at effecting change, find a story that incorporates each of the elements.
- Human (Or Human Characteristics)
- A Mission
- Opponents
- Obstacles
- Victory (Or Defeat or Cliffhanger, depending on what you want to leave the audience feeling and the effect you want to create.)
You can also look at your company's heritage to create a story that either enhances or develops your brand. Put the entire story together, and then begin to pick out the points that reflect your ethos, your message and how your business has already done for itself, exactly what it's promising to do for the customer or client. Don't fake it though, and if you start to incorporate stories that aren't your own, find a way to weave them into your story.
Make them Want to Listen
Does your audience want to listen? And if they don't, do you just keep saying the same things in the same way, hoping some of the information will sink in? That might not be the best strategy. We are well aware that the audience, be they other staff in the organisation, a client or customer, are an important part of the change or the sale, but how much do we consider where they're at? To create a 'want' to listen, you need to know them; what they are thinking, feeling, hearing, saying and doing. You have the ability to create pain or gain, considering their position allows you to begin to consider which you're doing.
The Result
Know what the point of the story is. If you don't have one, the story will be, well, pointless. Make sure it's a point you can get behind, something you believe in, something you can back up with facts and data – because now your audience is going to remember those stats, having something else to associate them with in visual way.
Repetition is important too, but only of the right elements. Are you repeating how bad things currently are numerous times within a presentation? It's a common and tempting mistake. Instead, hit your audience with how bad things seem once. After, make the point of how everything is going to be ok and keep repeating that point. It's hard to scare people into being on board with something and much more effective to inspire them to want to be on board. Storytelling gives you a way to do that. Simon Sinek's Ted Talk, 'How Great Leaders Inspire Action' is another great explanation of this.
Lastly, know what you want them to take away. How do you want them to remember you? What do you want them to remember, and if emotions are an important part of the decision making process, how do you want them to feel? Feelings might not be top of the list when we're putting together our power point slides, but with a small level of awareness, we may just begin to reap the rewards it offers us. The bonus of this is that you will likely become more engaged and you'll begin to experience the joy of an audience or customer that's equally engaged.