Why is storytelling so powerful?

Sharing insights through storytelling is the best way to change someone’s perspective, both in everyday life and in business.

As Paul Smith says in his book Sell With a Story, stories sell! And the salespeople who can tell a good story sell more than the people who can’t. Why is sharing insight through storytelling so powerful? I list six main reasons here, and I would like you to pay attention to the last one. It will blow you away.

1. A story doesn’t sound like a sales pitch.
2. It gives your meeting a natural break from the conversation and often transforms the conversation into a scene, a picture both the Seller and the buyer can actually visualize
3. Storytelling is a natural attention-getter because our brains, through thousands of years of evolution, are designed to listen to stories.
4. Stories are contagious. A great story is passed on from one person to another. For example, cooking recipes are passed on from generation to generation.
5. Insights through stories are easier to remember. According to cognitive psychologist Jerome Burner, a fact wrapped in a story is 22 times more memorable.

But what is the sixth reason, you ask? Before I get there, have you given this a thought? What could be the sixth reason? Aren’t five reasons enough to remember and encourage you to sell with stories? Why do I need to tell you about a sixth reason? Good question! But what if I tell you that the sixth reason is actually the deepest ‘fundamental DNA’ of storytelling? This sixth reason is often underestimated or forgotten by salespeople when telling a story. But on the other hand, it is one of the main reasons why great marketers use this in their on-screen advertising. Once you understand this principle and its effect on your brain’s dynamics, you will really get it. And you will never forget to apply this main ingredient of storytelling.

So, what is it?

I recommend that you watch the full story of Andrew Davis on YouTube, where he talks about this fundamental concept. Although his examples are in a different context and are more marketing-related, they apply absolutely to sales storytelling. The time spent watching this will pay off. So, what is it? And why am I dragging on to share with you this incredible insight?

The Curiosity Factor

Finally, there you have it. The sixth reason is called The Curiosity Factor.

It is a psychological tactic where a person sets the scene for something important or an event you want to know the end of. At the beginning of this blog post, I shared with you six reasons storytelling is so powerful. I immediately gave you the five main reasons (8 seconds of reading) and shared with you that there is a sixth reason, which is even more important, but I waited and waited and kept dragging on (40 seconds of reading) to tell you what it is. This is what Davis calls creating the curiosity gap, where you start with something that you know (five reasons) and through tension increments, your curiosity changes from wanting to know to need to know (the sixth reason).

Great storytellers do this very well. And in business, it works exactly the same. Remember to build the curiosity gap the next time you tell a story about another customer you have helped in a similar situation with similar challenges. You will see that your stakeholders will be even more attentive, and their desire to know what you did and how you helped will change their wanting to need to know. Applying this skill will make the five earlier main reasons even more impactful.

Thank you, Andrew Davis, for sharing!