Power Stories E-Book

Valerie Khoo

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 291

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Learn to tell stories that have the power to inspire, motivate, and sell Storytelling in business is a skill that's rarely taught--and often forgotten. But it gives those who get it right the power to inspire and engage people more than any pie chart or spreadsheet ever will. Stories foster a deeply human connection, and Power Stories: The 8 Stories You Must Tell to Build an Epic Business gives readers the skills they need to master this lost art to make sales and seal deals. Whether it's in person or online, storytelling is an influential and persuasive tool. This book reveals how to discover the stories sitting under your nose and harness them for your business. From power stories readers need to know to how to turn prospects into customers, and customers into raving fans, the book covers exactly how and when to employ the power of storytelling, and is packed with proven strategies and real-life examples that bring the key concepts to life. * Explains why storytelling is the ultimate tool for business success, revealing the 8 stories that any professional needs to be able to tell * Includes proven strategies, tools, and techniques for mastering the lost art of storytelling in the business world, including the use of online tools and platforms * Features real-life examples of businesses and entrepreneurs from around the world who have used storytelling to grow and thrive Written by Valerie Khoo, a respected small business commentator and successful entrepreneur, Power Stories gives professionals everywhere the tools they need to craft and tell great stories to create a competitive advantage.

Leseprobe

POWER STORIES: The 8 Stories You Must Tell To Build An Epic Business

Table of Contents

Foreword

About the author

Introduction

Chapter 1: It's all about connection

Once upon a time …

Why is storytelling so powerful?

The decline of storytelling

Short but not so sweet

The attention span of goldfish

The evolution of journalism

It’s the message not the medium

In that case, what exactly is a story?

Chapter 2: The entrepreneur's journey

You are the hero in your story

Identify your entrepreneur’s journey

Action: write it down

(A) My call to action

(B) Obstacles and challenges

(C) Finding the prize

(D) Facing more ordeals

(E) Returning from adventure with new insight

The sequel

Spark to flame to fire

Chapter 3: Your passion story

Why is your passion story so important?

What is your passion story?

The spark

The flame

The fire

Don’t have passion for your business?

Dig deep — it’s there

Making a difference

Why you need to share your passion story

Chapter 4: Your business story

Your 10-second elevator pitch

Focus on: who and what

Your 30-second pitch

Focus on: how

Get to the point

Lose the flowery language

What message are you sending people?

Your ‘About’ page

Focus on: telling the right story

Are you a person or a company?

Don’t make these mistakes

Your four core points

Your four supplementary points

Conclusion: Your call to action

Chapter 5: Your customer story

Why is your customer story so useful?

So how and where can you use these stories?

Stories generated and shared by you

Finding your customer stories

How to capture the data

What data do you need?

Increasing the response rate from customers

The ask

The mechanics

The questions

Review your data and extract customer stories

Share your customer stories

Externally

Internally

Video testimonials

Good old-fashioned conversation

Create a community for your customers

Chapter 6: Your pitch story

Intrigue, don’t scare off

How does your idea solve a problem?

Identify investor empathy

Demonstrating tenacity and passion

Open innovating and story sharing

More than one pitch story

The 100 coffees rule

Chapter 7: Your product story

What should be in your product story?

Your internal story: creating your product

Your external story: selling your product (the four Bs)

Brief explanation

Birth of an idea

Benefits versus features

Brand

Online product descriptions

Trade shows and in-store displays

Use helpful signage

Choose knowledgeable representatives

Craft a script and FAQs

Ensure you have printed marketing materials on hand

Chapter 8: Your leader's story

Show people who you are

Determine what’s different about your organisation or business

Inspire people to action

Educate and inform

Share simple messages

Ensure you have another story

Chapter 9: Your media story

How to share your story with the media

What exactly is a media release?

Why is it structured this way?

Look for opportunities for good story angles

The importance of statistics

Smart ways to create stories

Media alerts and callout services

Photography

It’s all in the timing

Blogger outreach

Chapter 10: From storytelling to story sharing

Make your story relate to others

‘My story isn’t so epic’

Before you start sharing …

Determining your customers’ needs

So where do you start?

Which social media platforms?

‘It’s all too much!’

‘I don’t have the time’

‘I’m a private person. I don’t want to share my life online’

Living in a public space

Chapter 11: What's your story?

What’s your story?

Stories for entrepreneurs

Conclusion: So what’s next?

Acknowledgements

POWER STORIES

The 8 stories you MUST tell to build an epic business

VALERIE KHOO

First published in 2013 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

Typeset in ITC Berkeley Oldstyle Std Book 11/12

© Valerie Khoo 2013

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author: Khoo, Valerie.

Title: Power stories: the 8 stories you must tell to build an epic business / Valerie Khoo.

ISBN: 9781118387511 (pbk.)

Subjects: Self-actualization (Psychology). Achievement motivation.

Dewey Number: 158.1

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Cover design by Michael Cook

Cover image: © Pedro Nogueira/Veer

Back cover author photo: www.GinaMilicia.com

Printed in China by Printplus Limited

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

To Peter, Rex, Rocky, Rambo, Dougal and Groucho

About the author

Valerie Khoo is a journalist, keynote speaker and one of Australia’s most popular small business commentators. She is also a successful entrepreneur in her own right. With a passion for both storytelling and business, Valerie founded the Sydney Writers’ Centre in 2005. It is now Australia’s leading centre for writing courses, with students from all over the world enrolled in its online programs.

Valerie leads a team of presenters featuring Australia’s top writing trainers, journalists and authors who teach a wide range of courses in all genres of writing. The Sydney Writers’ Centre was a winner in the prestigious Telstra Business Awards NSW (2010) and was named by Dell as one of the 10 most innovative small businesses in Australia (2009). You can find out more at www.SydneyWritersCentre.com.au.

Valerie’s popular Enterprise column about entrepreneurship appears on Fairfax news sites across Australia. She is ambassador of the annual Best Australian Blogs Competition and her personal blog, www.ValerieKhoo.com, was named by SmartCompany as one of the 25 Best Business Blogs in Australia in 2011. Valerie is also an investor and mentor to businesses and start-ups.

Introduction

Power stories. What are they? Why do you need them? And what difference can they make in your life? Power stories are the stories you tell to influence, inspire and persuade. This book will show you how you can harness the hidden power of stories to make a difference in every part of your life. Whether you want to win a promotion at work, convince a customer to sign on the dotted line or inspire a group of people to action, the right stories can make it happen.

But what if you’re not a natural storyteller or writer? What if you’re never the guy at the barbecue who has everyone cracking up at your jokes or tall tales? What if you’re never the one with the riveting stories to tell of your girls’ night out? What if you simply don’t think you have any interesting stories to tell?

This book shows you easy ways to identify the stories that will help you get what you want and reveals the simple techniques that can turn you into a master storyteller. You’ll discover how you can use stories to transform your business, create opportunities and, in some cases, maybe even change the world.

So why storytelling? These days, storytelling is one of the most underrated and underused tools that we use in life. But this wasn’t always the case. In ancient times, stories were the primary mode of communication. Stories were told through carvings and cave paintings; they were shared around the campfire and at tribal gatherings, and passed on from generation to generation. Stories explained the world around us and helped us make sense of it.

Now, in our hyper-connected online world, our connections are often reduced to 140-character tweets, pithy status updates about what we’re doing, and one-click declarations on Facebook about what we ‘like’. We are less likely to take the time to share compelling stories when it’s so much easier simply to blurt out an opinion on Twitter, whether it’s about a TV show or the lousy service at a fancy restaurant.

These instant interactions have their place — and they do make us feel connected — but storytelling is often lost in the process. It’s time to bring back the art — and power — of storytelling into our lives. It’s vital to bring it back into the way we do business. Storytelling is intrinsic to the human experience because we’re hardwired to understand and tell stories.

For most of us, participating in storytelling — either passively as a listener or actively as the teller — is the most natural thing in the world. We’re all born with the storytelling gene. In some of us it’s been suppressed but, like an unused muscle, it’s still there. And once you start to exercise it, this muscle will become stronger and more powerful.

It may be lying under years of fat — that is, the conditioning we go through in the corporate world, where statistics, spreadsheets and pie charts have come to rule our communications. It may never have been awoken, if you grew up in a family that simply didn’t communicate through stories. It may be hidden under the surface static of social media activity, photo tagging and blog commenting. Beneath this online chatter about last night’s reality show winners are the real stories in your life that should be told. Once you strip back today’s social conditioning, you’ll find your natural instinct for storytelling.

It’s an instinct you can use to your advantage. You can use stories to inspire and lead your team. You can use them to persuade customers to buy or venture capitalists to invest. In a world of email blasts and 30-second, attention-grabbing advertising blitzes, you can use the subtler power of stories to convert customers and build a legion of fans.

You can use stories to make yourself stand out in a crowd and be remembered. Stories can help you build your personal brand and boost your profile. Remember that stories aren’t just about people. They can be about ideas, causes and products too. You just need to work out the best way to tell your stories to achieve your goals.

Sometimes we shy away from personal storytelling because we perceive our lives as pretty, well, ordinary. If life seems like a continuous loop of feeding kids, cleaning up, driving them to sport, picking them up and feeding them again, you may feel like the only stories you have to tell are about vomit, tantrums and sleep deprivation. Similarly, if life has slipped into the routine of a long commute to the office, where every day is predictably the same, and if you fundamentally don’t believe that you have any interesting stories of your own, it can feel safer to dwell on inconsequential stories about Lindsay Lohan’s latest courtroom appearance or some juicy Hollywood gossip.

What’s happened to your stories?

In this book, you’ll discover the key power stories you need to get ahead, build your profile and grow your business. It’s not difficult, because you are tapping into a fundamental human skill that’s already inside you.

In chapter 1, you’ll discover how storytelling has evolved, why it’s so important to use it in your business, and how you can use it to convince stakeholders, inspire followers and convert customers. Then, buckle up, as we’re going for a ride in chapter 2 — on the Entrepreneur’s Journey. You’ll identify how this journey will underpin your power stories.

In chapter 3, you’ll identify your passion story and determine how you can use this to intrigue the people you meet. Your business story in chapter 4 will be the core focus on your website and in many of your marketing materials. It’s vital to get this right. In chapter 5, you’ll discover one of the most powerful stories of all — your customer story. You’ll learn how to collect, identify and use these stories to their best effect.

If you’re starting out in business, or if you have an innovative concept to share, you’ll learn how to craft your pitch story in chapter 6. Selling products can be a challenge, but learning how to develop a strong product story in chapter 7 will get you halfway there.

Like it or not, as an entrepreneur you’re a leader. You lead staff, customers and maybe even a legion of raving fans. In chapter 8, you’ll learn how your leader’s story can inspire people and maybe even change the world. In chapter 9, you’ll discover how the right media story will create headlines about your business and build your media profile.

After creating an arsenal of stories, you then need to share them. But what makes a story catch on? What motivates other people to share your stories — and effectively do your marketing for you? You’ll find out in chapter 10. Finally, in chapter 11, you’ll discover … the most important story of all.

This is the sort of book you can simply read and enjoy, taking away the ideas that most resonate for you. Or you can use it as a workbook, ensuring that you have identified your eight stories by the time you have finished. If that’s your purpose, I’ve provided you with an exclusive resource of tools and templates at www.powerstoriesbook.com, only available to readers of this book.

If you’re ready to unlock the storyteller inside you, be prepared for the magic that’s about to unfold. Be ready to tell your story.

Chapter 1: It's all about connection

When I was growing up, I used to catch the train to Sutherland Library in the southern suburbs of Sydney after school, where I’d wait for my father to pick me up when he finished work. I used to love hanging out at the library. I wish I could tell you I spent my time reading the encyclopedia because I wanted to be a rocket scientist or devouring literary classics so I could become a great writer. But that would be stretching the truth — in fact, it would be nowhere near it. My love for the library was not so … intellectual.