It’s common to hear about the importance of storytelling in our industry.

But does it really matter?  Yes, it does.  We live in an age of information overload.  Decision makers’ minds are flooded.  Meeting after meeting.  Slide after slide.  Data point after data point.  A phone call reminding them of priorities at home and breaking news around the world.  It can be overwhelming.

So how can you get heard?  It takes more than robust analysis, good slides and a professional presentation.  You have to stand out from all the noise, if you want to break through.

First, look at things their way (whoever you are talking to).  Understand their world.  Their objectives, their mindset, their listening preferences.  Don’t start a conversation with a Retailer by telling them your goal is to double your brand’s sales.  Tell them you have a way to grow their category.  Don’t use your own strategic framework if you know theirs.  Don’t give all the data to the big picture thinker.  Don’t keep things big picture for the detail lover.  There is no one best story.  There’s only the best story for a specific audience.

Second, make your story radically simple.  You might land one or two important things in any conversation.  Cut out anything that could obscure those.  Remember the elevator pitch.  You’re at the 10th floor, the lift door opens and the boss walks in.  It’s your big chance.  If you can’t get your message across as the lift drops the ten floors, it isn’t simple enough.  It takes effort to get to a radically simple story, but it’s worth it.  Complication is the number one enemy of influence.

Third, seek dialogue.  Actively monitor your share of airtime in a meeting.  If there’s two people present and you’ve talked for 80% of the time, perhaps flicking through PowerPoint, you’re already losing.  Imagine doing that with friends.  No-one wants to listen to a 30-minute monologue.

If you can stimulate a proper conversation, the outcome will be better.  It may not be the outcome you envisaged.  You might get a better one because it’s built on a meeting of minds.  Paradoxically, if you want to change someone’s mind, you have to be open to changing your own mind.

PowerPoint is often the enemy of dialogue.  Slides are useful, but you should be talking through them for 20% of the meeting, not 80%.  This means less time that you can meticulously rehearse for.  Less time when the floor is yours.  Maybe a bit scary, certainly for big meetings.    But true dialogue gets better results.

Storytelling is critical in our frantic world.  Look at things the way your audience does, be radically simple and stimulate a two-way dialogue.

​Jeremy Garlick is a Partner of Insight Traction Consulting, consulting with FMCG and Retail companies. He was formerly Head of Insight at Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Premier Foods.

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