Karen Dietz

Successful businesses have discovered the power of storytelling and its ability to affect the bottom line. A good way to start building your business stories is to use the time-honored storyboarding technique.There are usually a few ways to tell the same story — the one you choose may depend on the circumstances of the telling, the audience, your intent and goal in telling it, and other factors.

Many situations in business call for the use of compelling stories: Training workshops. Talks at company or industry events. Presentations to prospective and current customers or clients. Keynotes at conferences. Stories are the secret sauce between good and great — and truly awesome speakers. Here are some tips that will help you with any storytelling opportunity you may have: Identify your signature stories Any personal hip pocket story can become a signature story.

The first step in measuring the results of a business story project is to lay out your objective and what you seek to accomplish. Do you want more loyal customers, more engaged employees, increased sales, improved leadership, better performing teams, and the like? The methods you use to collect or validate evidence also define your measures.

Rarely will you hear the first rendition of a business’s story and say, “Wow. That’s well crafted.” If you’re truly serious about sharing stories from others that compel people to action, then you’ll need to spend time capturing them and exploring their various facets. Attend to legal/ethical issues Before you can use anyone’s story, except your own, you need to get permission in writing to obtain and use it.

Two critical listening behaviors are: Giving your total attention to the person who’s telling you a story and not interrupting the flow of the story as it’s being told to you, even if it’s unclear or the details seem out of order. Here are a few more listening tips: Stay away from disrupting the story “Most conversations are just alternating monologues.

Sometimes the key message for your business easily pops out of the story. Most times it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, start by identifying all the themes that the raw story covers. Themes are the subjects or topics covered by the story. Here are a few examples of story themes: Creativity and innovation Revenge Courage Leadership Assertiveness Teamwork and collaboration Perseverance Helpfulness Now identify the themes in the raw story you selected.

You have many opportunities to use stories in marketing your business. Figuring out what to share and where to share it are tactical feats. But tactics will only take you so far. Better to first think strategically and then build a story strategy that includes these tactics. Base the strategy on these four interconnected I’s: immersion, interactivity, integration, and impact.

No one can fight with a personal dream story you share about the future of a project, a business, a product or service, or an enterprise. It’s yours. You own it. However, they can always fight a future story that’s created by a group of people because they weren’t involved in creating it or it doesn’t jibe with what they think it should be.

You’ve likely heard the idioms There are two sides to every story and There are two sides to every question. Some people suggest there are actually three sides: Yours, theirs, and the truth. When it comes to stories, there are as many sides as the number of people who’ve been touched by the situation — which in some cases, means a seemingly limitless number of perspectives.