Do you remember when you were a little kid getting ready for bed? You would change into your Spiderman or Wonder Woman pajamas, hop under the covers, and wait for your parents to come tuck you in. They’d come into your room, sit on the edge of your bed and say, “Honey, are you ready for some… statistics?”

Yeah. I don’t remember that either. Probably because it never happened.

From an early age, we are trained to learn through story. Think about the stories you heard as a child: The Boy who Cried Wolf, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Little Engine that Could, The Giving Tree. I’d be willing to bet that even now, you remember the lesson you were meant to learn.

Tortoise and hair

That’s great, Sheryl. But what does it have to do with my business?

I’m glad you asked! I’m not suggesting that you adopt a Dr. Seus-esque rhyme to all of your content. Though that would be fun. You could go for a run… in the sun.

Okay, I’m done. (I totally didn’t mean that last one)

What I am suggesting is that you shift the way you communicate with your audience (clients, potential customers, your employees) from a figures and features approach, to a story approach.  Research has shown that 90% of buying decisions are made subconsciously from an emotional state. That means that if you’d like to close your potential customers (and if you don’t… you may want to reconsider your career path), you need to connect with them on an emotional level.

Here are two stories that you need to master in order to make that emotional connection. I’ll go into each in far more detail in a future post.

The Origin Story

Any X-Men fans in the house? I’ll just assume the answer is yes.

I remember watching the first movie (did you think I was going to reference the comic books here? I’m not that cool). I thought to myself, “That Wolverine guy is awesome, but he’s not a genetic anomaly like the others. I sure do wish they’d tell me why he’s got metal claws and a bad attitude.”

Wolverine claw

Then they came out with his back story and everything fell into place.

You need to tell your customers why you do what you do. You didn’t wake up one morning and decide “I’m going to dedicate my life to building a widget empire… just because.”

Why do you care about widgets? Did a widget save your father’s life when you were younger? Have you always been fascinated by widgets? When your potential customers understand why you do, they will care about what you do.

The Customer Experience Story

There are two different approaches to this category, (okay, there are actually more, but we’re going to talk about two right now): the Happily Ever After and the Cautionary Tale.

Let’s start with the Happily Ever After story. This is what happens when a customer uses your service/ buys your product. Things work out well. A quick example: Tim and Lisa have been dating for 5 years. Lisa has been dreaming of the proposal for 4 years and 364 days. Tim bought a ring at Shiny Bling R Us, dropped down on one knee and declared his love. Lisa took one look at the ring and said yes! Tim and Lisa are now happily married and buying a house in the South of France.

Now let’s see this story as a Cautionary Tale. Dating… dreaming… Tim bought the ring at I Shouldn’t Have Gone There Mart, got down on one knee and declared his love. Lisa took one look at the ring, knocked Tim over and stormed out, never to be seen again. Tim now lives in a trailer down by the river. Tim should’ve gone to Shiny Bling R Us.

fake diamond ring

Obviously this is oversimplified, but hopefully you get the point. Share true stories with your audience of what has happened for satisfied buyers, and what has happened when they haven’t bought. Your potential customers will connect with the emotions that the “characters” feel and will be inspired to buy.

The Origin Story and The Customer Experience Story are just two of the approaches that you can use to connect with your audience on an emotional level. If you’d like to learn how to create your own story, I’ve got workshops for you and your team. Contact sheryl@sherylgreenspeaks.com for more information.