STORY TELLING GUIDE

Stories are some of the most powerful tools in your persuasive arsenal. They have the
ability to wrap people’s attention and lower their cognitive defenses. This guide will
outline some of the keys to powerful storytelling.

WHO’S THE PROTAGONIST/HERO?

Every story needs a main character. This can be a person, a product, a service, a deal, or
any other noun you can think of. When positioning your character, ask the following
questions:

Who or what is the protagonist?

How would you describe the protagonist in vivid, visual language in one to two
sentences?

Why should we care about the protagonist?

WHAT’S THE CONTEXT?

The context is the set of circumstances or facts that surround the situation at hand. Here
are a few questions you can use to give context (you don’t need to answer all of them):

Who are the important characters?

What are they doing?

How do the characters do what they do?

Why are they doing what they are doing?

What are their beliefs?

Why do they believe these things?

Where is this happening?

How is this happening?

How can you describe the context in vivid, visual language in one to two
sentences?
 WHAT’S THE PROBLEM OR CHALLENGE?

Now that you have your main character and your context you can set up the problem.
Your story should progress in the following manner:

This is our character. This is the context. Everything was okay until…

The problem or challenge is the “until…” Here are a few questions you can use to
introduce the challenge (you don’t need to answer all of them):

What is the problem or challenge?

Why is this an issue?

What barriers/difficulties does the protagonist face when trying to solve this
problem?

How can you describe the problem in vivid, visual language in one to two
sentences?

How can you create tension by making this problem seem unsolvable or
unbeatable?

How can you create even more tension by allowing your protagonist to almost
breakthrough but fail in a way that creates a sense of desperation?

BREAKTHROUGH!

This is where the solution to the problem reveals itself. Here are a few questions you can
use to introduce the challenge (you don’t need to answer all of them):

What is the solution?

How can you insert an element of surprise by revealing the solution in an

Did the protagonist have a guide? If you are selling something you want to
position your product or service as the guide, not the hero.

How can you describe the problem in vivid, visual language in one to two
sentences?
 WHAT’S THE POINT?

If this was a fable, this is where you would put the moral of the story. This is where you
explain the reason behind telling the story. Your goal here is to answer the question, “so
what?” Here are a few questions you can use to explain the purpose of the story (you
don’t need to answer all of them):

What’s the point of this story?

Why does it matter?

Why should the listener care?

What do we do now?

What’s the call to action?

WHAT SHOULD YOU AVOID?

There are a number of classic story killers that you should avoid.

Excessive Details: Say only what you need to say and nothing more. A classic
saying in the legal world is, “if I had more time I would have made it shorter.”
Superfluous details are distracting and take away from your ultimate goal of
persuading. Nobody cares what day it was, what color shoes they were wearing,
etc. unless it is critical to the development of the story and understanding the
context.

Excessive Length: Humans have a limited attention span. Your story shouldn’t
take more than two minutes if you are in the midst of a normal conversation.

Excessive Laughter: The worst thing you could do when telling a funny story is
laughing to the point that it drags the story out or makes it too difficult to
understand. Comedians make their livings on telling funny stories and we rarely
see them laughing to the point of poor communication. Learn from them!

Excessive Prefaces: You don’t need to preface your story with anything more
than, “this reminds me of a story” or “one time…” Your goal is to keep this as
short as possible.
 Also, never preface your story by saying that it is funny, sad, exciting, etc. Your
story will do that for you! If you say that a story is going to be funny it lowers the
power of the punch line. Surprise is one of the key elements of stories. Let them
go on the emotional rollercoaster. Don’t tell them beforehand because it will
make them numb to the emotions you seek to evoke.

Lack of Direction or Purpose: You’ve done a bad job if you get to the end of
your story and people ask, “so what?” Always have a clear focus and direction
throughout the story. This is made easier by keeping it short.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If this works for you, shoot me an email and let me know, leave us a five star rating on
iTunes podcast page, and/or connect with me on LinkedIn. I would love to hear of your
success!

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art of negotiation to as many people as possible so please spread the love! That would
help me, it would help your friends, and would make you look like an all-star.