Welcome to issue 77 ! Did someone forward this to you? If so, Subscribe here!

I dropped a new podcast episode this week with Stan Phelps and David Rendall, co-authors of the new book, “Speak Different”.

Not only was this a presentation masterclass, its concepts hit right to the core of how great sellers use stories to articulate an idea.

Their premise: Persuasive presenters tell powerful stories that reinforce a single idea.

That is the whole game when you are a founder trying to get someone to care about what you are building.

Today, I wanted to share four ideas from that podcast and their book that will help you level-up your storytelling.

Most founders make a point and move on before it has a chance to land.

They say something like "our platform saves your team hours every week" and then jump straight to the next feature.

Remember, your buyers don’t know your product or the payoff as well as you do.

David's rule is simple: Every time you make a claim, follow it with because and then for example.

Because tells them why it matters.

For example makes it real.

So instead of blowing through the features, you must slow down.

How you might say it: “Our platform saves your team hours every week, because right now your team is doing manually what we automate in the background. For example, I worked with a founder last quarter who spent every Sunday pulling data from three different tools just to prep for Monday. Two weeks after getting set up, that was gone.”

You’ve given them a visual of a transformation, now they can see where that feature can help them.

What feels obvious to you with your product is brand new to someone hearing it for the first time.

The because and the for example close that gap every time.

There are two types of stories worth having ready on any call. Hope stories and fear stories.

A hope story shows your prospect what is possible if they make the change. It is a positive example of someone who did the thing you are recommending and got the result they wanted.

A fear story does the opposite. It shows what happens when someone does not make the change. It is a cautionary tale that creates a healthy sense of urgency without you ever having to manufacture pressure.

Stan and David share a story in the book about a financial planner named Ed. He was running 90-minute seminars for small business owners and closing about 50 percent of the free consultations that followed.

His coach suggested one change: open the seminar with a five-minute personal story about why he became a financial planner. Ed shared how his grandparents invested their life savings into a butcher shop, lost everything, and had to work full-time jobs until they died. He had never told that story in his seminars before.

Two weeks later, 37 out of 40 attendees signed up for the consultation. His conversion rate went up nearly 1,000 percent.

Same slides.

Same content.

Same offer.

→ He just told a story that made people feel something before he asked them to act.

That is a hope and fear story working together. Fear of what happened to his grandparents. Hope that Ed could help them avoid the same outcome.

On your next call, have one of each ready.

One story that shows what is possible when someone works with you. One story that shows what it costs when someone does not. You do not need both every time, but the combination is the most powerful thing you can bring into a room.

To tell great stories, you want to be prepared with an arsenal of them.

Stan and David developed a framework called QQSS: quotes, questions, stories, and statistics, to help do that.

For every core point you make, you have at least one of these four things ready to back it up.

A question that pulls your prospect into the problem before you try to solve it.

A quote from a customer or someone credible in your space.

A story that puts a face on what you are saying.

A statistic that shows this is not a one-off.

But, you can’t just spout out a statistic because it feels credible. A number without a story around it does not move people.

Stan uses a great example in the book to back this up.

Kraft discovered that the top 10 percent of Velveeta buyers purchased more than 50 percent of all Velveeta sold. On its own that is interesting, but wrapped in the story of a brand facing three straight years of declining sales, a team debating three different strategies, and uncovering data that changed everything, that same number becomes something people remember and repeat.

The stat validates what the story already made them feel.

Start building your story bank now.

Customer wins, deals that did not go well, real moments where your product shines that would be recognized.

You don’t need the entire story bank today.

Start with one and build it over time.

This is really important. It’s not that you can’t talk about different things as the conversation shifts, but what is the central theme of your call.

Why are you even talking to the buyer today?

Most founders go into a call with too much to say. Product, pricing, roadmap, differentiators. By the time they finish, the prospect has so much in their head it’s hard to retain all of it. (Which is why the Control Email is so effective).

David shares a story in the book about a 90-minute breakout session early in his career where he showed up with 114 slides and multiple bullet points on every one of them.

There’s no surprise that he bombed hard.

His words: “I had a thousand unrelated points. I tried to do too much and ended up doing nothing at all.”

Stan and David built a 300 page book around a single sentence. Everything in it points back to the same place. One idea, reinforced from every angle until it sticks.

Before your next call, decide what the one thing is that you need this person to walk away believing. Maybe it is showing what a partnership looks like and that switching to you is simpler than they think. Maybe it is that staying with their current solution is costing them more than they realize.

Whatever it is, every story you tell, every question you ask, and every stat you share should point back to that one thing.

Whether you believe so or not, you are always presenting.

On every call.

At every networking event.

With every potential partner or investor.

The founders who win those moments are not the ones with the best slides or the most features. They are the ones who know how to make one idea land and keep reinforcing it until it sticks.

They are the ones who tell great stories.

If you want to listen or watch the full conversation with Stan and David, the episode is live now and links below.

Spotify / Apple / Youtube

Before your next call, write down the one thing you want to reinforce with your buyer.

Then find one hope story, one fear story, and one statistic that all point back to that idea.

That starts to build your story bank and is part of your call prep.

Walk in with that and you are already ahead of most every other vendor you’re up against.

Reply and let me know the story you come up with. I read every one.