Secret #3 - Stories sell, facts tell – customize you presentation for your audience

As you start to develop your content keep in mind that stories sell and facts tell.

You want to sell your ideas so you need to tell stories that connect to your audience.

When a person is making a decision, the emotional part of the brain takes control. The logical part of the brain may be saying “yes, I see the point in doing that” but if the emotional part of the brain is not convinced then the answer will be “no”.

Select stories that showcase the points you are making.

Sometimes you have to go through five to 10 stories to find the one that is right for this message. To help you select which story to use, look at your audience. You want to match your story to your audience. If you have a room of managers, then you want a story that shows the benefits in terms of time savings, money savings, and employee satisfaction.

You don’t want to get too much into the details of how.

On the other hand, if you are talking to a room full of techies then you want to give more details and select a story that shows how they will benefit in terms of ease of use, increase in productivity, and workplace enjoyment.

Using case studies are a great way to show benefits.

You don’t have to give your client’s name unless they have given you permission to use it, but you can still share their results in a case study.

Never go too deep into the facts.

You can always provide a fact summary sheet at the end of the presentation which has the details or make an appointment to talk one on one about the details.