Storytelling 101

Grab ‘em with your first line.

• Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. 
• It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

These lines reach out and pull you into the story, they foreshadow what you’ll learn if you continue reading, and they’re memorable. These are from fictional stories, but there is much to be learned about how imaginary stories draw us in.

How does this example of a typical opening line in a business document grab you?

• In today's global marketplace, manufacturers are faced with intense competition, which is driving a demand for innovation, faster time-to-market, and lower price premiums.

Don’t be afraid to use emotion.

In business communications this is rarely the raw types of emotion—love, loss, deception, betrayal—you get when reading a novel by Tolstoy, Austen, or Orwell. You must, however, recognize that you are speaking to people who have emotions and that you want them to feel a connection to your business, your customers, your product or service. And you do that by getting them to feel something, perhaps fear that inaction will result in more work for them or fewer sales for the company.

Does this go far enough? Or address the issue in the best way?

•  Most organizations have unknowingly accepted much greater operational risk than they realize. Recent catastrophic incidents ranging from Katrina to the Enron scandal show how severe the results can be.

Surprise your reader.

As Chip and Dan Heath explain in Made to Stick, to maintain interest long enough to get ideas across we need to violate people’s expectations. Surprise them. Be counterintuitive. When you upend a long-held idea, counter a belief, or even simply approach a notion from an unexpected angle, you create curiosity. And that’s what helps people remember you and want to come back for more. How can a clock strike thirteen? Does that make you want to read more?

Does this fact surprise you? Is it memorable? Is there an even more unexpected way to present this information?

• In mainland Europe, the window for early-evening calls extends to later than in the UK, while in the US people like to leave their personal matters until they get to wok, so a breakfast call is less well received. But even in the US market, the east coast tends to favor an early evening call while the west coast is more European in its outlook, extending that window until as late as 9 pm.

End with a bang.

As Dickens wrote: It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

Can you beat that?

 -November 2010