Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business

Make a list of customer objections and questions.
This is often an awkward conversation. After hearing all the wonderful things a
company does, I’ll ask a client, “So why 
don’t
people choose you?” And while
no one enjoys talking about this, if you know why your customer says no to what
you have, you can tell stories that put their concerns at ease. If you know they
think your product is too expensive, you know to look for stories that illustrate

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how your product saves them money in the long run. If you know they’re
resistant to change, you know to look for a story that illustrates the pain of not
switching to your solution.
The same is true of the questions your potential customers ask most
frequently. Think back to 
chapter 4
and the two systems in our brain—the one
that goes with the flow and the other that gets called in to deal with the tough
stuff. When we’re asked a question, often our first instinct is to revert to
answering with logic and, as a result, immediately get tangled up with System 2.
If you know the most common questions people ask about your product or
business ahead of time, though, you can find stories that answer them more
effectively than a list of logical bullet points and help keep your customers in
that far more desirable System 1 space.
Look for when you’ve seen your message in action.
My favorite thing about this prompt is it gives you the encouragement and
freedom to look anywhere for your stories. If you want to deliver a message
about perseverance, you can tell a story about a prototype that took many failed
attempts before it finally worked. You could tell the story of how you wanted so
badly to do the splits but couldn’t until you finally figured it out after weeks and
weeks of practicing in your bedroom and on the playground and at church. As
long as you tie your story back to the message, almost anything is fair game.
Ask yourself lots of questions.
The number of stories you can find is limited only by the number of questions
you ask yourself. Here is a list of questions I use to uncover stories that have
otherwise been forgotten.
• When have you had to be resourceful in order to survive?
• What was the worst day in the history of your business?
• When have you made a customer cry? For good reasons? For bad?
• When have you stopped a customer from crying?
• What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done in business?
• Whose life is different because of your business?
• What is your proudest moment in your work or business?
• What one event or decision in your business history could your company
not have survived without?
• When have you been surprised or mistaken about someone or something in

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your business?
• What was your first sale?
• What was your most meaningful sale?
• Do you remember a time when you lost a sale?
• Who is your most satisfied customer?
• Who is your most unsatisfied customer?
• What was your most embarrassing moment?
• When has someone said you couldn’t accomplish something?
• What was the moment you knew the work you do is worth it?
Regardless of which of these prompts you choose, once you narrow down
the list and start digging, you’re going to find much more potential story material
than you probably imagined was there.
The Great Lie
I was reading a book, and the author stated that, in order to have stories
worth telling, you needed a life worth living, implying that the source of your
storylessness is that your life isn’t worth telling about. I will admit, while I’m
not prone to physical expressions of anger, I threw that book across the room.
Liar.
If this thought creeps in, ignore it.
It’s a lie. A common lie. But a lie all the same.
Your life is full of stories. Which I know may sound bold, especially to
someone who’s sitting in front of a blank piece of paper, feeling like they don’t
have a story in the world and that nothing’s ever happened to them that’s worth
telling about.
The truth is something I’ve said several times throughout this chapter: If you
ever feel like you don’t have stories, it’s not because you don’t; it’s because our
stories don’t sound like stories to us. Our stories just sound like life. The finding
exercises in this chapter will help distill specific moments and reveal them for
what they really are: stories waiting to be found and told.
Finding the Story, Phase 2: Story Choosing
Yes, you have stories. If you work through the lists above you’ll likely be
overwhelmed with the possibilities. Or perhaps finding stories has never been

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your challenge. Maybe your challenge is that you’ve always known you have
stories to tell, but you were just never sure where to start.
This brings us to the second part of finding stories. Now that you’ve
collected some story options, you have to choose which story to craft and tell.
That is what Suzanne and her company were facing. Not the problem of
collecting but choosing.
For pet owners, few things are more difficult than having a dog or cat or
other loved pet in need of care but not being able to afford it. That’s an
experience Suzanne Cannon knows all too well. When Suzanne’s dog became
seriously ill one weekend, her only option was an emergency veterinarian clinic.
But just as it is for humans, when it comes to health-care for pets,