It was their first meeting.
About three handfuls of men gathered and found their spots in chairs arranged in an oval around the middle of the room.
This group meeting was designed to give these men — men diagnosed with diabetes — an avenue for sharing their successes and failures in managing their disease.
But it was clear that one guy wasn’t happy to be there. And he let everyone in the room know it. Through his attitude. His body language. Let’s call him Scott. And Scott didn’t need anyone’s “support” with a “disease” that wasn’t that big of deal.
“It’s just diabetes,” he barked. “It ain’t like it’s cancer.”
About 15 minutes into the group session, another man entered the room. He apologized for being late and made his way to an empty chair.
Scott was engrossed. His posture changed.
He couldn’t take his eyes off this man. “What happened to his leg?” he wondered.
It didn’t take long for Scott and the others to learn that this man had recently had his leg amputated, because he hadn’t managed his diabetes.
By the end of the support group meeting, Scott had transformed into an advocate for diabetes management. He made others commit to complying with their management plans along with himself.
The Stories We Tell
Coming into the support group, Scott told himself a story about diabetes. No fact, feature or airtight logic could change his story. No authority could change his story. No fear tactic could change his story.
The only thing that could change Scott’s story was another story. But not a story told to Scott. It took a story Scott told himself — one from personal experience. Seeing that diabetic amputee gave Scott a new story to tell himself.
Storytelling isn’t limited to TELLING people stories. Storytelling means creating experiences that become the stories others tell themselves.
When you sell or market something, you’re touching prospects in some way. You are physically or digitally entering their story.
And you’re either reinforcing the story they tell themselves about people like you. Or you’re creating an experience that changes that story.
Think deeply about that before your next email, phone call, presentation or meeting. And choose to create experiences that touch people in unexpected ways.
Ways that will one day prompt them to thank you as they tell about the role you played in their story.
(Image by Thomas Lieser on Flickr)