Whether you’re trying to convert a lead, get extra buy-in from your team, or connect with potential new customers, storytelling can play a pivotal role in your business. At the core of any endeavor is the need for human connection. Without others believing in your product or service, it’s nearly impossible to build a brand up to its full potential.
Dale Carnegie understood the importance of this art, and the positive impact it can have on a business. Storytelling has the power to connect people, both intellectually and emotionally. This gives business leaders the opportunity not only to express their value proposition, but also a chance to foster something deeper: engagement and inspiration.
Here are three ways storytelling can help your business reach its goals:
Storytelling In Business
1. Gain Willing Cooperation
As a leader, it’s your job to foster cooperation within your team. This can range from minute tasks like day to day activities to accomplishing momentous initiatives that take a tactfully executed approach. It’s one thing to delegate responsibilities; it’s another to gain willful cooperation. The latter involves a sense of ownership over one’s duties. An obligation that has been fostered through a deeper connection with leadership and the business as a whole. Storytelling creates an avenue to facilitate such camaraderie. It has the potential to impact the very culture of your organization.
Related article: The Importance of Communicating Organizational Values to Employees
2. Influence Meaningful Change
Influencing meaningful change is not a one-person job. Without acceptance from your audience, it’s more akin to a car spinning its wheels without going anywhere. The truth is, change starts from the ground up, and in order to get others on the same page, there needs to be a motivational factor. Storytelling can be used as an impetus to the transformation you’re looking for. It creates a bond between you and your listeners. Something they can relate to that humanizes your goals and leads them wanting to make them happen, too.
Related article: Get to Know Your Employees on a Personal Level
3. Make A Memorable Impact
Compelling storytellers weave relatable threads of information into their conversations and presentations. In the end, it’s these threads that leave the most enduring impression in the minds of listeners – often outlasting factual details. Making a memorable impact reinforces your key takeaways. Learning the art of selecting and delivering the right stories to convey those points can be the defining factor on if your message hits home, or misses the proverbial mark.
Related article: 8 “Be-Attitudes” to Embrace Change and Increase Adaptability
Learn More About Dale Carnegie Public Speaking Mastery
Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, has helped thousands of leaders around the world achieve their goals. We have taken those lessons, and others from our experienced team of thought leaders, to create a class purpose-built to help individuals leverage storytelling to become more successful team players and organizational heads.