What is your Story? We all have a Story!

We all have a story, and our story matters. If you’re a speaker you better have a great story to teach especially if you’re doing a keynote. Your story, or someone else’s story, connects people, and stories sell and facts tell. So, you need a story to connect with people. But it’s more than that. There is a book inside of each of us. Whether or not we ever write it, well, that’s up to us. You do have a story inside of yourself.  When I meet people, they tell me “I want to write a book. I have a great story.” Though they may have a great story, as many people do, it is not their story that’s always the most successful in selling. It is the stories that we have lived and learned from that we teach others. So, if you want to write your story, through a speech, or through a book, make sure that you teach the lessons. How did you learn from it? How are you still applying it today? How has it helped you personally and professionally, to be more successful in life? Share your stories, but don’t forget to include those lessons. If you’re telling a story because you’re selling a product, make sure to tell us how you used the product? Why did you use the product? What were the results? What is your story around the product? Did it make you better at something? Did it make you stronger, brighter, more successful? What do you do with that story? When I tell people about my book Be the Exception, I share stories of how people have responded when they read it. People that told me they had never read it but they started reading it, couldn’t stop. People that told me they read it and as a result they’ll never yell at their grandkid again because they realize nothing really matters enough to raise their voice, or they’ve changed their language or their attitude. They’ve stopped blaming other people, and they’ve eliminated some of their skewed excuses and negative self-talk. You see, stories are what sell products, but stories also connect people—head and heart. If you only speak about logic, you only connect to the head. Though people may learn something, they may not remember who taught it to them. If you can connect the head (the logic) with the heart, then you’ll make a connection and more than likely you’ll make a sale. If you want to sustain a successful business, remember to connect stories to your products and your services.