Transformation in Stories
The Art and Science of Business Storytelling
Posted by Chris Sissons on Oct 2, 2024
Stories in Business ยป Chris Sissons
I’ve been running Telling Stories: Making Business since 2017 and so far I’ve heard 92 business owners’ stories. A significant minority of these stories have been about transformation. This means stories about some event that has been a turning point for the storyteller and has made an irreversible difference in their lives. These types of events include bereavement, mental illness, physical disability and other traumatic events.
Whilst these stories can be the foundation of successful businesses, this is not always so and the most effective stories for business development are not always about transformation. The main reason for this is that almost by definition, they do not fall within the experience of most people’s lives.
Furthermore, they are sometimes difficult stories to tell. We all have stories we hesitate to tell for one reason or another. One potent reason is that despite your best intentions, you can't tell the story without breaking down. This type of emotion embarrasses your audience and the teller may experience remorse. Sometimes this problem can be overcome in time but everyone has more than one story, so tell other stories and perhaps the big story will become easier later.
Successful businesses solve a problem owned by a sufficiently large market. I may be sympathetic to someone who has experienced significant trauma, I may empathise with their experience. Most often I am energised by these stories, usually about someone overcoming odds that are hard for me to imagine.
But often, I don’t share anything remotely like that experience so I am unlikely to find sufficient common ground to enter their sales funnel, at least on the strength of their story.
Where the story is unrelated to their business offer, their story may be a means to show the business owner is capable of overcoming immense odds. I may as a result choose them to provide something I need because I am drawn to their story and less so to others with similar businesses.
Another approach is to tell the story as much as possible and find out who is most drawn to it. A few businesses are founded on a single story. The story might grow and develop over time as the teller experiences more of the needs of their audience and in effect, their audience becomes a part of their story. This can lead to a unique and successful business.
However, these outcomes are rare, which is OK because a life without this transformational trauma is no bad thing and you certainly don’t need it to market a business. If it’s a part of your history then use it. If not, don’t worry there’s a more accessible alternative.
This is the eleventh in a sequence of posts about business storytelling. The first post was Marketing: Art or Science? The last post was What is a Story? and the twelfth post will be Realisation in Stories.
To try out one of your business-related stories and receive feedback from me plus a few other business owners, please comment below to arrange an informal conversation. I run these sessions free of charge on the second and fourth Thursdays. Visit my website to find out about the Telling Stories Autumn meetings.
I knew this would be a disaster. Minerva told me she is a brilliant stage magician. She assured me that she would turn an olive branch into a few friendly bees. How the owl got involved is anyone's guess. And those are angry wasps!
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