January, 2016
HOW TO TURN THE “ME” STORY INTO FINDING A “NEED” STORY!
When you are speaking, teaching, offering to do business, is your storytelling all about “ME”? It is a fine line we all walk in telling our story; telling folks about what we do and what we offer; the side that tells all about “ME”, and the side that speaks benefit and solutions to others’ “NEED”.
I recently attended a tele-seminar in which there were interesting bits of content, and the storytelling was definitely all about “ME”. Deciding to time the telling of accomplishments, associates, personal crisis, status in the community, educational triumphs, etc., the “ME” content came out to half the total time of the program. When the delivery of personal expertise overshadows the showing and sharing of knowledge of an audience’s needs and giving of solutions, there is little respect for why folks are attending or for their time
Too much “me” turns a brain off, an invitation to multitask…boring. Talking features does not create relationship. Clearly showing and sharing how you uniquely help people is what counts.
Stop talking and start showing!
How do you show your unique benefit of solving other’s needs? You can literally DRAW it out for folks. Get everyone on the same page. When you ask folks to participate in person in or off site by actually drawing, making lists, brainstorming, writing lists or drawing, it is most effective if you give them visuals to follow. Quick sketch visuals capture the essence of what you are providing, and have been proven to be highly memorable.
Staying out of “me” land and showing up in fulfilling “need” land.
How can you make sure you stay out of “ME” land? Here are a few ideas:
1. Take a sheet of paper, draw a line in the middle (from top to bottom) and title the top left: “ME” and the top right side: “OTHERS”. On the “ME” side: make a list of your talking points that have to do with you (your bio, story, moments, labels, etc.) and across each item mark down delivery time. On the “OTHERS” side: list what you DO to define and solve what your people are craving to solve…and again, mark down the time for this delivery. Gets obvious where your talk is focused.
2. Draw out a physical representation of ALL of your tools you are giving, and SHOW them in your presentation. Ideas, products, process, services. Giving illustrations in a casual manner is very effective to get folks to participate and understand your benefit.
3. If you ask people to “draw” an item so it can be fulfilled and used as a tool…give them a drawing to follow so ALL is clear. Folks interpret verbal instructions in many different ways!
4. Give your audience quiet time to make lists, draw the squares, triangles, circles that they fill with content. Be SILENT. Provide space for this activity. Give your audience time to THINK…do not fill this quiet time (or fill whole presentation) with more of your story or personal experiences.
5. Before you end your talk, give moments for Q&A so what has been “drawn out” can be shared and if needed clarified and expanded. The not so great way to end a talk, tele-semiar, webinar, etc. is to give your “ME” pitch, offer to buy it now, and not leave any time for personal communications with your audience. UNMUTE…that is when you listen to others, that is when you find needs, that is when you do NOT deliver more “ME” story.
Draw upon “YOU” to draw your loyal relationships.
Drawn visuals are personal…they tell YOUR story as well as YOUR value. By actually drawing and having others draw visuals or lists you actually are drawing out what folks “need”. Plus, you create new links to others via their emotions rather than just “minds”. Whether it is a simple doodle, stick figure, word list, or fanciful ideation, SHOWING and drawing brings personal connections.
My drawings connect others to their unique stories that help them serve others navigate their unique paths. Give me a call so I can discover what your visual communications needs are, to help you find and solve “NEEDS”, listen more, show and draw MORE to you and your partners.
Thanks for your time and sharing!
I’m Paula Brown; Visual Scribe / Feng Shui practitioner / Author / Animal Communicator. I am a visual storyteller showing you how to IGNITE YOUR STORY, YOUR ENERGY, YOUR WELL-BEING for both business and home. My site is: www.chilightful.com Connect on: LinkedIn, Twitter. and you can “like” my facebook page at: www.facebook.com/ChiLightful
