Clean, succinct stories are easy to tell and comfortable to hear.
First, your story’s details are clean, instead of murky and hard to understand. (Yes, that is the definition of “clean” intended in this headline!). Next, your details fall into place nicely and logically along the story line. Then, you have enough details to engage the listener, so they cannot wait to hear what happens next. Yet, your story does contain detail minutiae which overwhelm, confuse and bore.
Overall, an engaging client experience which makes decision makers anticipate the next time you meet.
Regardless of your professional discipline, focus on telling clean succinct stories to complement decision-making outcomes you target.
- Which are your go-to stories? Do you have any yet or does the thought of telling a story make you shudder?
- Write your story down. Seriously. I don’t wing-it when I storytell and neither should you. Especially if you are trying to close a sale or present a new product design or case-study.
- Next, look at the length of the story you wrote. How much of the story length is devoted to details you wish to convey to decision-makers? Less than half, half, more than half, the entire story?
- Then, rewrite your story using half those details, or less. Only your mission-critical-for-comprehension and impact details remain. The rest can be included in post-story conversation: the goal of telling the story.
How did you do? 😉
This week revisit the stories you tell. Make sure they are clean, succinct stories: easy to tell and engaging and comfortable to listen to.
Why are these your go-to stories? Hopefully because they always move decision-makers one millimeter closer to taking action. If the stories you tell fall short of delivering on anticipated outcomes, contact me and let’s turn your ho-hum, boring stories into engaging stories employees and clients cannot wait to hear.
Hi there! Thanks for visiting my blog. I’m glad you’re here. I leverage design-driven storytelling to translate across communication disconnects and build Trust between people and professional disciplines. Together, we optimize the strategic business and human capital value of your people and your organization. I have some great tools in my book, Do YOU Mean Business? to help you discover the untold stories living somewhere in your organization. Contact me here. Let’s storytell. To get to where you need to go. Together. One millimeter at a time.
Planning your next team, corporate or association meeting? Engage me to present one of my One Millimeter Mindset™ Storytelling speaking programs, workshops, or mastermind groups. Contact me here. Let’s storytell together!
Image source: Adobe Stock
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