Simple Story Tip #3: Linger On The Struggle

Are people not embracing your pitch?

Are they skeptical, defensive, or just plain bored?

Simple storytelling trick: Linger on the pain.

I see a lot of decks. People seem in a huge rush to get to their big, new product! To explain how it solves every darn thing.

But most of the time, that solution comes way too early in a presentation. The audience doesn’t yet know or–more importantly–doesn’t yet feel that a solution is needed.

So, they are skeptical.

All you need to do: make the pain of NOT having this solution far more, well, painful.

Go to town.

Tell the story of someone who desperately needed the solution but didn’t have it, and their life sucked. Going into rich detail about what it’s like living in the world without your solution. The deeper the pain, the more maddening and frustrating it is, and the more relief they feel relief when they learn of the solution.