Personal Persuasion
There are certain cultural norms and rules of decorum people are expected to adhere to in society and in business contexts specifically. I am of the mind that rules are meant to be bent, if not broken entirely.
In business, the rules of professional decorum tell us that we shouldn't get too personal with our prospects or clients. Of course, there are absolutely topics which should not be brought up and things which shouldn't be said, but I truly believe that our prospects and clients are looking for us to get personal.
Adding storytelling to your business interactions is one way to build and keep amazing relationships that will last a lifetime.
Our goal is to create rapport powerfully and quickly with all of our prospects and one of the fastest ways to this is this statement: "Let me share a secret with you. . . " A secret? Aren't secrets exciting? Doesn't the word 'secret' make you want to know more? When someone shares a secret with you, don't you feel special, like you're about to be in the know.
By working these secrets and other personal anecdotes into your criteria elicitation, you speed up the trust a person has in you. I'm not suggesting you come out with anything absurd, but a pointed story that has a point in what you're selling.
When I'm teaching students on coaching calls and in seminars, I, on occasion, open up and tell a few stories about some serious and regrettable mistakes I made in the past as they relate to persuasion and sales. These stories are uncomfortable for me to recall, but are very important in putting out there as I am most interested in training people to be persuasive in the right way, with honesty and integrity being at the top of the list. These stories are not easy to recount because I did some things I'm not proud of as a young man. I consider them to be hard earned learning experiences and having overcome them is something I am very grateful for. Learning from my past and overcoming these incongruencies in the way I am inside and the way I act in the world, is valuable for people learning persuasion to understand--as in, here's what *not* to do.
Getting into the more personal aspects of storytelling is only part of persuasion. I am always certain to step outside of my first person narratives and explain how personal storytelling is an art. When you think about it, you can be an artist of almost anything. You can be an artist of business, an artist of personal relationships, an artist of persuasion, an artist in the kitchen, an artist with actual art supplies. When we start to think of all of life as a creative canvas, magical things can happen as a result. Some of the creativity we express is natural, other bits of our creativity, we've had to nurture and grow. I can tell you this: I was not born the persuader I am today. I've literally put years of practice into attaining the level of expertise I have today and each day I am grateful again for having put the time into learning such an amazing art.
So here's a suggestion: Find a story from your life that relates to your business. Start with the punch line, so to speak and reverse engineer it to start with the words: "Let me tell you a secret. . . " Watch the rapport and trust increase by magnitudes. We all crave a good story.