Storytelling is More Than a Buzzword: The Proof is in the Funding
"Mom, can you tell me a story about when you were little? Did you ever feel shy in front of people?" (Why yes, yes, I did.)
My daughter has a dance recital soon. They make a circle so each dancer can take a turn in the middle. My girl is struggling; she doesn't want to be the center of attention for many reasons including that a lot of the kids are gymnasts and can do cartwheels and splits. My daughter feels like her freestyle dance moves aren't good enough. Despite how much that hurts my heart, I digress (and we are working on it together) - The point here is the power of storytelling. When our kids ask us, Mom/Dad have you ever... X, Y, Z, we tell them a bit of our backstory. We show them that we've been there too. We tap into our vulnerability and say Mom/Dad aren't perfect. We've been where you are. We made it through.
Stories create connection. They say, “I've been where you are. I made it through. I can help you get where you want to go.” They take ahold of our hearts; they have the power to influence our decisions in business, in life. In the conference room, on the dance floor.
But let’s back up and talk about what storytelling actually is (other than a super popular buzzword). We’ll unpack what stories do to us, as well as why and how to use them.
What is storytelling?
Storytelling is the art of using fact and narrative to connect and build trust with people. Storytelling has been around forever, in every culture and society. Stories stimulate passion, and passion influences us to act.
Storytelling can be about your brand, what you stand for, your journey - where you started and how you got here. It can also be about who you serve or who you work with. Let’s also talk about what storytelling isn’t. It’s not a sales pitch or an advertisement. It’s not features and benefits or a list of your services.
There are four stories necessary to build your brand effectively:
Brand Story: how your brand or company guides your true fans
Back Story: your journey; complete with a problem you encountered and how you emerged transformed
Job Story: why you created your product or service, and what role it plays in the lives of your true fans
Impact Story: how you helped a true fan succeed
Cool, cool. But why should I even use stories?
Buckle up, I have a story for that question.
There was a professor at Stanford named Chip Heath. He conducted an exercise where he divided students into groups of six to eight and gave them stats on crime patterns in the US. Half the students in the group had to make a one-minute presentation in support of the proposition that non-violent crime is a serious problem; the other half had to present the counter point. The students then voted for their fave presentation and moved on to watch a short video. Ten minutes into the video, Heath abruptly asked the students to write down everything that they could remember about the presentations they listened to. 63% of the students remembered the stories. Only 5% remembered any individual statistic.
But don’t worry, I won’t expect you to remember that statistic.
I spoke with Dr. Daniel Crosby, a psychologist and behavioral finance expert, to get an understanding of how stories affect behavior. He said, “When humans listen to engaging stories, our brains show a marked increase in oxytocin, the hormone responsible for trust and empathy. We develop a sense of connection to the storyteller, or relate to the character in the story, and in turn, that can influence us to act.”
Telling authentic, relatable, memorable stories drives your true fans to take action. Your backstory may help someone that shares a similar life experience reach out to you. An impact story may help a prospect see how you can solve a problem they have; hearing how you’ve helped a client allows a prospect to see themselves in that story as your client too.
Companies who tell stories demonstrate more success finding their true fans because stories put a face, a heart, and a soul on their brand. People do business with people; they don’t do business with statistics.
The proof is in the… funding?
Storytelling isn’t just to give us the warm fuzzies though. It helps grow businesses and increase revenue.
I created a blueprint at my firm, which has helped boutique investment firms raise billions of dollars. The foundation of the blueprint is storytelling. It’s literally the first thing we do. Here are a few ways that stories drove growth for our clients:
Helped a new fund go from $1M to $1B in 3 years
Raised $300M for a new boutique with bottom decile performance
Raised >$500M for a boutique and closed their flagship strategy in <3 years
Doubled the size of a boutique asset manager with 1 deal
Secured $60 million in seed capital for a new interval fund before launch
Secured $25 million in seed capital for a new mutual fund before launch
Helped numerous funds get on the coveted RIA platforms
But don’t take my word for it. (Well actually you should but…)
Have you heard of the Significant Objects Project? In 2009, a journalist, Rob Walker, and an author, Josh Glenn, came up with the hypothesis, “Narrative transforms insignificant objects into significant ones.” They purchased insignificant objects for a few bucks each, hired writers to come up with a fictional story about each object, and listed them for sale on eBay. $128.74 of product sold for $3,612.51, coming in at about a 2700% profit margin.
Got it. But how do I use stories?
Storytelling can be used for sales, marketing, and leadership. While stories have been told through voice, text, and pictures for generations, the rapid growth of digital technologies allow us to now tell stories through video and immersive experiences as well. Stories can be integrated across websites, marketing collateral, social media, presentations, podcasts, and more. They can be used to communicate your vision in team meetings or to provide use cases on sales calls.
Here’s the mic, Rockstar.
While storytelling takes practice to perfect, don’t let perfection get in the way of progress. Start storytelling. Measure your results. Learn what works.
Let’s work together to write your stories. With over a decade of storytelling under my belt, I’d be honored to be your guide.
