The 6 Stories You Can Tell To Influence

By Robert Kennedy III

Let’s talk, stories. Stories are critical and they make a big difference in any speech, in any conversation. But did you know the type of story you tell can make a huge difference in the outcome of your conversation or in the response of your audience? So what am I talking about? What are the types of stories that you can tell? 

I want to share with you six different types of stories you can tell that will make a difference for your audience. You don’t want to just tell any kind of story, because the story is an opportunity for you to build trust with your audience, for them to get to know you better. It’s also an opportunity for them to see themselves in anything you’re presenting. There’s a story that you tell in specific situations which can really make a difference.

#1 Introduction Story 

Who are you? What makes you special? What makes you credible? What are the different types of things you have experienced? Your audience wants to like you, they want to know you. They want to trust you. So tell them about the time you tripped, tell them about where you’re from, tell them about a funny story or tell them about an embarrassing thing that once happened to you. Although you have the mic and you’re the one in the front of the room, you still don’t want to appear removed from your audience. So tell them who you are, introduce yourself to them. 

#2 The sales story 

A sales is a story you can use when it’s time to sell or really influence the group.This type of story is called a why I came story. Why are you in the room? What did you bring? What is your reason for standing in front of them at that very moment? Is there something you have that can solve the very problem your audience is facing right at this specific time, make sure they know this as soon as possible, the longer it takes for you to tell them why you’re there, the more suspicious they’ll become. Especially if they’re in a situation where they’re expecting to be sold. 

#3 Value story 

This story you can use when you talk about characteristics you really find important, heart centered values you hold dear, this kind of story is especially important for leaders. When you really want to have your organization understand the values, the core values that are important to you and see if there’s alignment with values they hold importantly themselves.

#4 Lesson story 

A lesson story is where there’s a moral and you want to use this when you’re trying to change a specific behavior. If you’re trying to make a certain point, for example, if I’m dealing with my kids, I really want to share a lesson story when there’s something I want them to do differently. I’ll go back into my own history. I’ll share a story about when I did something wrong and then I’ll share the lesson for why I’m telling them that story type. 

#5 Vision story

This is where you have big ideas, big dreams, and you really want to point people in a specific direction. This is your GPS type of story. This type of story is used when I’m starting something new. When I need to inspire a team, when I need to mobilize people to move in a specific direction of vision. A vision story is really the type of story that helps the point, the needle point, the rudder point, to point people in the direction you want everybody to head at the same time. 

#6 Inspiration story

A story of inspiration, these are really stories about when a challenge has been conquered. When you want to show a new way to do something, you really want to begin to utilize inspiration stories. When you have something really big you want to accomplish, you want a group of people to accomplish, you want to motivate them towards this and you want to show them the difference. You want to show them the obstacles and the challenges that have been overcome. You want to inspire them to move forward with this story you’re telling them. 


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