Good stuff from current CEO of Mandalay Bay Peter Guber. He believes storytelling is at the heart of effective communications and success in business. So much so that he’s written a book about it, “Tell to Win.” As a former Hollywood mogul/producer, he ought to know a good story.
In its own way, Guber’s book mirrors a lot of what we at CommCore tell our clients – compelling and relevant storytelling commands an audience’s attention by inserting your message into something they can relate to. As Guber says in an interview about his book in Inc. Magazine http://bit.ly/fXXgjR: “You have to try to engage an audience. You cannot just talk at them; you have to talk with them and modify your story as you tell it, based on their feedback. If you do this successfully, your listeners are more likely to metabolize the information you wish to convey, to change behavior, and to repeat your story to others.”
If you think it’s easy, think again. A story’s effectiveness is only as strong as the amount of preparation you put into it:
• Know your audience and what’s important to them: What’s In It For Me?
• Read up on recent news about their sector, company, brand, product, service or issue.
• Scour home pages and websites that are relevant to the audience to find out how they position themselves.
• Make sure your own message and desired outcome dovetails seamlessly into the story you are going to tell so it doesn’t seem like a forced pitch.
• Practice your storytelling – memorable sound bites, analogies, 3rd party validations.
• To the extent possible, try and make the story a natural, organic extension of your own self; it will be more believable.
Guber credits good storytelling for his own success. Does that apply to your business, or to your clients?