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

PART TWO
The Four Essential Stories
The Tales Every Business Needs to Tell

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CHAPTER FOUR
The Value Story
How Storytelling Drives Sales and Marketing
Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you
tell.
—SETH GODIN, AUTHOR AND ENTREPRENEUR
T
he Workiva sales team had an advantage over the competition. The kind of
advantage that meant there really was no competition.
The solution they offered their customers was unmatched: it was the best in
accuracy and simplicity, and it enabled efficiencies that shaved hours, even days,
off of processes that tied up even the best and brightest 
Fortune
100 companies.
Essentially, Workiva spared companies embarrassment from high-profile errors,
saved companies millions of dollars, and offered solutions that changed people’s
lives.
So you would think that saying yes to Workiva would be a no-brainer.
Like, duh.
And yet Workiva struggled as much as the next guy to build a bridge strong
enough to get potential clients to say yes. Not because Workiva couldn’t deliver.
They absolutely could, and their long list of converts and impeccable customer
satisfaction score were proof. But even after the sales team pitched decision

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makers, even after they demonstrated every possible life-changing feature, there
was still so often an elephant in the room.
The reluctance toward change.
Turns out Workiva’s biggest competition wasn’t another company or
product; it was the status quo. Sure, their platform might be more effective and
efficient, but they couldn’t overcome basic human nature—the nature that says
the devil you know is better than the savior you don’t.
Burdened with the undeniable sense that the way they were currently
communicating their value wasn’t enough, they were determined to figure out a
better way. Workiva’s plan? To switch their focus from features and benefits to
stories.
Instead of using more data to support their claims—they were already giving
more data than even the savviest data maniac could handle—they would tell
stories that tapped into the real pain of the current problems. They would tell
stories that highlighted the real-life implications of inefficiency and inaccuracy.
They had these stories; they just weren’t deliberate in telling them. All of that
was about to change.
I had the honor of working with the exceptional team at Workiva to help
bring their true value to life through stories, and the stories they found were as
remarkable as the product they sold.
One story was designed to illustrate the value of a particular feature of their
product that guaranteed data consistency in critical documents, something that,
prior to Workiva, was only possible via endless hours of manual checking and
rechecking. The accountants hated the process because it sucked the life out of
them and basically meant they had to sacrifice all nonwork passions and
commitments. The companies hated it because they had no choice but to pay for
hours and hours and hours of backtracking and double-checking that really
should have only taken a fraction of the time and cost a fraction of the payroll.
Again, the Workiva solution seemed like a no-brainer. And yet logic wasn’t
getting the job done. So, instead, they learned to tell a story. It was the story of
an investor relations customer who, not willing to let middle-age damn him to a
dad bod for eternity, decided to focus on fitness. And not just any fitness. Being
a goal-driven man, he set his eyes on a triathlon.
Ah, the triathlon. So much more than its cousin, the marathon, which
involves merely running, the triathlon is the ultimate test of fitness. Swimming,
biking, running. All three components require their own preparation, equipment,
and planning, which means deciding to do a triathlon instantly signs you up for a

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massive commitment. And not just a physical commitment, but a massive time
commitment. It’s basically a second job. And while the pay isn’t great, the
benefits (and bragging rights) can be amazing.
The investor relations executive knew this, and he wasn’t afraid. He bought a
killer road bike, a pair of elite running shoes, and a membership at a fancy gym
with an Olympic-sized pool. He was as methodical about his training as he was
about his work in data reporting. He used a spreadsheet to keep track of pool
times and the miles he ran and biked. He had it all planned out. He would hit the
gym for swims before work and then run or bike after he left the office.
But then came the quarterly close, and this executive was responsible for
getting financials from one team and incorporating them into his slide decks and
reports. Each quarter he would meet with the other reporting team. They would
sit in a conference room and meticulously update the numbers to make sure,
without a doubt, that the data he was using was accurate to the very last minute.
Of course, because everyone’s days were already filled with all the other
work they were supposed to be doing, these extra financial accuracy meetings
either had to happen before business hours (there goes swimming time) or after
office hours (bye-bye run time). Despite his best efforts and flawless training
spreadsheets, the man found himself forced to leave the bike on the rack and the
speedo in the car and, instead of training, head to a fluorescent-lit conference
room to meet, again, with the financial reporting team.
Sadly, with so many training sessions skipped and not enough time to make
up the difference, the man had to withdraw from the triathlon he was so excited
to compete in. Heartbroken and frustrated, the man wondered if he’d ever have
enough time to do what it took to achieve his goal.
Everything changed the day that man’s company started using Workiva’s
platform. Now, his reports and slides were connected to the reporting team’s,
which meant anytime a number changed, his reports were updated automatically.
No more double- and triple-checking. No more before-hours or after-hours
meetings. Most importantly, no more stressing about data consistency, because
the numbers were always right. It was all done for him and done more accurately
than if they had done it themselves.
Not only did the company get better reporting as a result, they also increased
employee satisfaction. After all, what employee likes wasting time on
inefficiencies? The reporting team didn’t have to waste time rehashing numbers,
and most importantly, now the executive could spend his precious pre- and post-
office time swimming and biking and running to his disappearing dad-bod’s

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content.
Two quarters later, the executive completed his first triathlon—with the folks
from the reporting team there to cheer him on.
Equipped with this story, what used to be a bullet point in Workiva’s demo
presentation could now be an emotional moment in the value journey. What
previously might have been glossed over, either by the Workiva team presenting
it or the potential clients who, heaven forbid, had slightly tuned out as people in
meetings tend to do, was now being heard in one engaging, entertaining, and
(significantly) relevant moment that perfectly demonstrated how valuable a
solution like this is, not only to the bottom line, not only to fiduciary
responsibilities, but to the people who make an organization run.
The Value Story
This is the first gap in business: the value gap.
The gap between the problem and the value of the solution.
The gap between the product and the value to the customer.
The most important gap any business needs to bridge is the gap between
what they offer and the people who, whether they know it or not, need it. To
capture the attention of buyers, to convince them that, yes, this is the solution,
and eventually to transform them into repeat users, customers, buyers, believers.
When it comes to sales and marketing, the