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How to Tell Better Stories and Convince More People

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Now that you know what works and what doesn’t work when crafting situational persuasion success stories, consider ways to enhance and customize them.

In business, you typically apply the powers of persuasion to accomplish one or more of the following: You want someone to buy your product, agree to your new idea or take you up on your offer. This can apply to customers and clients, colleagues and rivals, and members of the media or other organizations. So focus on creating situational persuasion success stories that seek to improve internal communication, boost your brand and explain why your way — whatever way that happens to be — is best.

Concentrate on who you helped (with that client’s permission, if you’re using actual names) and what you did — not how you did it. If you focus on “how” (“We’ve helped ABC Corporation convince investors this company is the real deal by increasing fourth-quarter revenue by almost 55 percent, crafting new closing tactics and tracking accountability.”), your target might be thinking, We already tried those things, and they didn’t work. As a result, he’s mentally checking off reasons why you won’t be able to convince him and his company.

Instead, mention what you did, with whom, and share the credit: “We’ve helped ABC Corporation convince investors this company is the real deal by increasing its fourth-quarter revenue by almost 55 percent. The firm has credited our insight with identifying and taking advantage of new opportunities. We think its willingness to partner and collaborate made the results possible.” The likely response from your prospect: “Can you do that for me?”

Just remember: In order to convince, you need to be convincing.

You must exude confidence without seeming arrogant, and know when to stop talking and let your story sink in.

Experiment with the ideas I’ve shared in recent posts by developing your own situational persuasion success stories. Then you’ll join a long and, well, storied tradition of communicating via storytelling.

Storytelling 101: Five Ways to Persuade (Part I)

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Storytelling is one of the oldest, most effective forms of human communication. Long before Twitter, Facebook and even the printing press, humans informed and instructed others via stories for thousands of years.

Why has storytelling as a communication art form stood the test of time? Because it’s compelling. Just try listening to only half of Jim Croce’s “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” or Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” It’s almost impossible. Even if you’ve heard those songs before, you still want to know how the story ends.

Stories also can be instrumental in helping you convince others — a colleague, a potential customer, maybe even a complete stranger in an elevator. I call them “situational persuasion success stories.” These are pre-created retellings of how you previously helped improve someone’s condition in given situations. This elevated skill-set can yield tremendous results in your persuasion efforts and will accomplish five things. You will:

1. Create a nonthreatening way to share information.

In many persuasion situations, your target can be on hyper-alert, wanting to avoid feeling uninformed or ambushed. And if the conversation is focused on him or her, personal defenses are often heightened. But if you attempt to make your point with a story that does not involve the individual to whom you are speaking, it’s much easier for that person to relax and focus on the discussion.

2. Allow your targets to insert themselves into the role of your situational success story’s main character.

The best situational persuasion success stories are ones in which the main character is someone other than you or the other person. Inserting yourself into the lead role could send the wrong message — suggesting that you are self-centered and your story is contrived. So don’t be the hero in every story; make the main character someone else, such as a friend or colleague.

3. Make the discussion an effective one.

Everyone enjoys a good story now and then, and situational persuasion success stories contain three subtle yet distinct objectives: to inform, to educate and to persuade. When you inform someone, you make that person aware; when you educate, you bring about understanding; and when you persuade, you enable the other person to embrace a particular point of view. Yours.

4. Provide a “social proof” component.

As one of my professional heroes, Robert Cialdini, Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University, claims, “We follow the lead of similar others.” When we hear that “all the kids are doing it,” that has a profound impact on us. Using situational persuasion success stories leverages this idea of social proof, or informational social influence, and makes what you’re talking about even more convincing.

5. Break through the surrounding informational noise.

In his book, Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut, author David Shenk states that the average American in 1971 encountered 560 daily advertising messages. By 1997 (the year Data Smog was published), that number had swelled to more than 3,000 per day. And the Newspaper Association of America proclaims that now the average American is exposed to more than 3,000 advertising messages before breakfast. There’s a lot of noise out there; to cut through it and convince someone to listen to you, you must have a compelling story to tell.

Sharing stories is a critical component of the Persuasion Equation, which is why next time, I’ll share elements and examples of compelling situational persuasion success stories.

Why It’s OK To Use Literary License in Persuasion

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Everybody embellishes stories, at least a little bit. Like that time you told your colleagues who weren’t at the new-client meeting that everyone applauded after your presentation.

I’m here to tell you it’s okay to use literary license in the persuasive stories you tell your prospects. Slight exaggerations, the blending of separate events and the changing of particular details can be done for the benefit of a good cause: your pursuit of getting to “yes” faster.

Now, I’m not recommending you resort to outright lying. There’s a term we use for making up stories, and it’s called “fiction.” Don’t dabble in fiction, but remember that the term “literary license” grants you permission to stretch the truth. Use drama and emphasis to prove your points and make your case. You’ve no doubt heard the phrase, “If this isn’t a true story, it should be.” Make the stories you tell that good.

Here’s an example: “I remember one female customer who came into the store bathed in perfume, with makeup straight from a fashion runway and a leather jacket shinier than chrome.” (The woman may, indeed, have been dressed stylishly and appeared out of place in your store, but isn’t the way I describe her above immensely more memorable?)

No harm, no foul.

(Photo by Patrick Tomasso)