Why do we pause when we hear the phrase “let me tell you a story” or as children say “once upon a time?” We stop what we are doing and prepare ourselves to engage in listening. We want to be captivated, inspired, and fearful and be taken on a journey of high adventure. Why do we love storytelling? It takes us to places we have never been. We can be touched by a story about a boy and his dog or we can experience going to Mars to build a new world. Storytelling can make your heart beat faster or bring a tear to your eyes.
We connect emotionally and intellectually to the art of storytelling. In Retail, we strive to connect our story, our product, and our culture to our customers. By storytelling, we can relate our story, services, and product to their adventures. They can talk about the great shirt or a new rod that they fished with in Montana, or see the joy of a dog getting adopted at an event and having a forever home.
We also have to listen to their stories. It is a story of how and why they embrace and use our products. It is also the reason they share our story with others. Storytelling builds a bond with our customers about us, our product, and who we are culturally. When you hear how your product, your store, and the people in it enhanced their life or gave them an adventure, or when they share photos of their new puppy you become part of their story. That is the true meaning of customer service.
Point Of View:
As a child, I grew up on front pouch storytelling. I would sit and listen to my Dad and his brothers tell stories. I was captivated and always wanted to hear more. I wanted to experience the things they talked about. They were good listeners as well. They smiled and nodded at the right time when I tried to create my own stories. I connected to those people and told their stories to my children.
Imagine if you would if the stories we tell to our customers about who we are and what we provide were powerful enough that they would tell their children about us and the adventure we helped them create.
Thank you Larry! Stories are what feed our memories! As I say in my speeches and articles, everyone has a story…?
Thank you. I agree with you and I love to hear the stories
I learned from my mother in my family business the importance of relationships and to build relationships, you share stories. You build trust with people through your shared stories and they remember you and your products/ services. She was right about a lot of things, including this. Great article Larry.
Thank you Connie
As a publisher I think this is an important message for all authors and would be authors so I shared it on my business page. Thanks Larry!
Thank you for sharing Candi
Thanks for the good post, Larry! Such an important and difficult aspect to achieve in corporate life. I was recruited to a consulting agency at one point, and when they took me around the premises – my management guide told me the story of the company and the founder connecting it with the objects and rooms around the building. It was so powerful that I later incorporated that idea into a branding concept for one of my customers. For some people, storytelling comes naturally, for others it takes time to learn. Wonderful story cradle you had at home :).
Thank you Maria I love the life I was given.
Story telling, when given a natural touch, creates bonds of kinship. Building great relations with total strangers, in foreign lands and in demanding situations helps ease challenges. At the same time, we also need to be aware of Chris’ statement referring to the unwanted politicized stories that only end up wasting both our time and energy.
I especially like the idea from Aldo about ‘story telling to story living.’ It is the instrument that carries a lot of weight by itself.
Thanks a lot, Larry Sir, for this wonderful ‘story!’
Great feedback Bharat
Make storytelling means creating narrative universes that, through a series of communicative activities, can help the company to excite and engage audiences. The purpose of those who use storytelling is to turn a simple tale into emotions to establish a deep relationship with the public: it is not just to inform, the primary goal is to involve it actively, to establish a trusted relationship with the referring public. The strategic essence of corporate storytelling lies in the ability and will to stage the company’s cultural, professional and operational heritage by giving it a soul, not just using obsolete communication mechanisms.
There is, however, a change (from storytelling to story living) to which attention has to be taken: the Millennials, in fact, want to share their experiences, not just their stories.
Thank you out there always enjoy reading your feedback.
That would be thank you Aldo
We need storytelling. That is why Marvel is making their billions with their movies. But, the sort of stories you will run into are those that are just plain nasty. “Did you hear that Nancy and John had a randevú in the stairwell?” Why would you want to hear that? especially at work?
Those that are telling stories today are telling ones that make blood boil. Trump and Russia. Trump and Russia part Deux starring Don Junior. It’s been a few years where I heard a good and positive story in either my personal or professional life. It has been a while.
It just motives me more to tell good stories.
I look forward to reading your stories Chris And thank you for reading and commenting
I’m getting more and more comfortable telling stories while share advice. I don’t use the story as a sugar coating for the advice. I use the story as a base line on my position and how I wish I did things differently. My stories often end with “you have a decision to make”.