If you want people to learn about and buy into your next big idea, storytelling can help! I discuss storytelling strategies with my guest, Robert Mattson.
Robert works with companies and their people on how to use storytelling to be more INTRIGUING, PERSUASIVE, and MEMORABLE. He teaches workshops, speaks at events, and works on messaging projects on how to take stories from creation to final delivery.
He’s a playwright, filmmaker, photographer, actor, singer, director and family man when he’s not working. He’s releasing his first book The Salesperson’s Guide to Storytelling on February 4th of this year.
Robert’s Story About Storytelling
Robert’s relationship with storytelling started when he was 15 years old. He was walking down his high school hallway and saw an audition notice on the music room’s wall. He turned to his two friends and said “Hey, we’re auditioning for a musical today!” That started a lifelong affair with acting and now Robert’s written 50+ plays and he’s been in more plays than he can remember. Seven years ago he was the VP of Marketing for a software company. When you’re at a small software company and you fall short of your sales quota (he had been there less than a year) you get turned from strategic leader to overpriced overhead. He found himself out on his own.
Serendipity intervened. Robert was asked to teach a storytelling workshop, and he had an epiphany. He had found something he was good at and loved to do. Acting is about storytelling, and he had business experience so he combined the two areas of expertise. This spring it will be seven years since he’s been doing it and he’s been building up research, best practices and all those wonderful things to make sure that he is teaching people in a way that they can take storytelling elements and apply it to business.
Where Does a Good Story Start?
Everywhere! Stories are all around us and the minute you start to realize how to build stories you start seeing them everywhere. Whether it’s leaving a coffee cup on top of your car as you drive off to going to Home Depot and looking for paint for a shed, many experiences can lead to a story. Suddenly all these themes start popping up because stories are the way that everyone communicates. Before written tradition there was oral tradition. That’s the way we’re wired; we’re wired for story. The question is not “How do you find good stories?” it’s “How do you pick the right stories that are going to have the effect that you need for your audience?”
With having the right effect, what makes a great story?
The litmus test when creating a great story is: “Is it serving the purpose that you need?” So, if I tell you a great story that is about 1940 Volvos, and you’re not interested in cars, it’s not a great story. But if I tell you a story that you have great interest in or you have something to gain out of it then that’s the beginning, that’s the foundation. Because if it’s not a good fit for your audience, no matter how well you craft the story and no matter how dynamically you tell it, it’s not going to connect. So, it’s looking at your audience and asking “What’s going to work for this particular audience?” and then building a story using a good, solid foundation and using, dare I say, stagecraft to tell the story well.
If you’ve ever been to a Moth Storytelling Night, there are great storytellers there but some land a little flat because they’re not stories the audience can relate to. But they’re still told very well. So, it’s creation and then delivery, that’s the most important aspect to look at.
In this episode, we also dive into topics such as:
- How to figure out if your story will be a good fit for your audience.
- Examination of the purpose of your story: Is it to entertain, teach, or persuade?
- The three types of audiences and why you need to understand each one to be a great communicator.
- What it takes to craft a persuasive story.
- The storyteller’s “curse of knowledge” and how to overcome it.
- A description of “The Hero’s Journey” and how to build it into your story.
- How to craft a story to make your product or service life changing, even if it’s in a small way.
- Give them examples not of what you do but how they benefit from it.
- The three-act structure of almost every effective and successful story.
- How to craft an intriguing introduction to your story.
- How great storytelling plays into great business meeting and how to embrace it.
- How to successfully close your business meetings so people will remember the important points.
- How to keep someone’s attention once you get it.
- Examples of “ramblefests” and how to know when to end a story without going too long.
- How to know what to keep in and what to leave out when crafting your stories.
- What you can do to jumpstart your storytelling if you’re a storytelling amateur.
- Some of the guidelines of effective and successful storytelling.
- The components of an engaging story.
- What makes a memorable and “retellable” story so that people will spread your idea with their network.
- The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to become a great storyteller.
…and other golden nuggets of advice!
You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”
Click here for more outstanding interviews with entrepreneurs and thought leaders!
About My Guest
Robert Mattson founded INTRIGUE based on the idea that communication started with intrigue and ended with impact. He guides the company using lessons learned from decades as a high-tech marketing executive at companies such as ADP, Ceridian and SmashFly Technologies, and skills he’s developed as an actor, playwright, programmer, electrical engineer, photographer, videographer, and musician.
Robert enjoys that each project and client bring challenges that require new solutions and attacking problems in unique ways. Robert has been on stage at national and international events as well as being published by such wide-ranging places as the Java Developer’s Journal, The Compensation Handbook, and Concord Theatricals.
Click here to connect with Robert on LinkedIn!
Click here to visit his business, INTRIGUE!
