The Power of Storytelling

Recently I interviewed entrepreneur, Iman Aghay, who is a firm believer in the power of storytelling. When I asked him how he manages to leave such a lasting impression with his audiences, he said, “I tell a lot of stories”.

He went on to say,

“The way people know your passion is through your story. It’s the ‘why’ of your story that connects you to the right client, to get to the right client you need the right story. And, it’s getting the story right that makes the difference.

 

It’s in the first ten minutes of giving a webinar or seminar that people make the decision to buy, to work with you. And, they make that decision because of your story. You can literally impact your client’s frame of mind by the type of story you tell.

 

People who work with you want to know you are passionate about what you do. That what you do is in alignment with your purpose, and they know that through your ‘why’ story. Why you have passion for this topic. Or why you love to work with this particular market. Or why you have the best system, the best methodology.  It’s knowing your ‘why that connects you to your right target market.

 

We have many stories that shape our passion. Stories are incredibly powerful”.

What makes a powerful story? I wanted to know

Iman smiled and shared these three tips, paraphrased from our video interview, https://youtu.be/wZ-eqosvkiA

Tip 1 is to follow a structure

A story has sequence.  Sequence one, this happens. Sequence two, this happens. It’s important to follow the sequence of a story, and there are five sequences.

The first sequence is building the common character.

The person who is listening to you tell your story needs to connect with that common character. The common character then experiences some pain.

 

Pain is the second sequence.
The character starts having problems, experiences pain with challenge over challenge over challenge which leads to sequence three.

 

Sequence 3 is crash and burn
which is the biggest fear that the character has. The character has hit the lowest of lows which leads to sequence four.

 

Sequence four is change.
The character realizes that he/ she needs to make a change, and makes that change which leads to step five.

 

Sequence five is thrive.
The character now has overcome all odds and is thriving, experiencing success, happiness and prosperity.

 

Every story structure follows this basic sequence in some way: common character, pain, crash & burn, change, thrive … just watch any Hollywood movie”.

 

Tip 2. Be open and honest

…and both at the same time. Telling a story that people need to hear is incredibly life changing to them, and many times lifechanging for you to share.

Tip 3. Work your story like a real talk.

A talk has structure. A talk has content.  It also has body language, vocal variety, eye contact, and pacing. A story is like any other talk that you need to master”.

Having watched and listened to Iman in his seminars, there is no doubt that he is a master at storytelling. He shows us that stories are an incredibly powerful way of communicating and building relationships. And, that storytelling, along with speaking, is a skill  … with time and practice  … we can all master.