What’s Your Story – selling your idea successfully

So we have our idea, but how do we tell the world about it?

I have seen many presentations by companies and afterwards often ask myself 'what exactly do you do again?'

Most presentations are full of facts and figures and slides that would thrill MOMA, but few tell a convincing story.

RFPs don't help. When companies invite bids they often ask for as much information as possible as quickly as possible.  Then they sit on it for a long time trying to figure out what exactly it is that the product does or sometimes even what they really want.

We drown ourselves in detail, get trapped in the weeds and miss the big picture.

Why does this happen?

We are conditioned to absorb information in narrative form. But few of us are good story tellers. It's easier to present our case in facts and figures - the more the better.

'We have over 1000 customers; we have offices around the world; we provide 24x7 support; we are the number one company in this field and we never sleep.'

That may be nice to know, but it is hardly a story.

A story contains a plot, details, characters and language. Put them altogether in the right way and we have a story. It can be explicit or implicit. A word or image can tell a story.

A good story must be brief or as the consultants say 'tight.'

Our brand tells an implicit story. What we buy reinforces who we think we are.

For example, technology that is growing rapidly in the consumer world is penetrating the enterprise, but may not be enterprise ready.

Why the rush?

Because in a highly competitive world where time and space is compressed they quickly tell a story about who we are -we are cool, sophisticated and ahead of the pack.

Here's a simple test. Can you tell your story in five minutes, maybe two? Can you tell it in ten slides, five, two maybe even one?

So what's your story?