Connect better with a powerful question and stories

What do you think is the best question you’ll ever ask anyone? It’s “How did you get started?”

This question is so powerful because it prompts people to tell their stories, and we connect through stories. You find that instant connection, and you say, “Oh, me too.” To continue to build that connection, develop some stories that you can share as well.

Telling stories that motivate

One of the very first things we can do to motivate is to be better storytellers. I share stories around what I call the three F’s of storytelling: fears, family and failures. No matter who they are, every single person in the world has these three things in common. By connecting, we instantly build relatability with everyone we communicate with. And we want to be able to relate to the people we do business with.

To build up a collection of stories, I use a note-taking app called Evernote. Here’s what I recommend: Start a folder on your phone called your storybank, and anytime you remember a fear, family or failure story, add it into your storybank.

Develop one story every month. When we do that, we have 12 amazing stories to share. This is a game changer.

This was excerpted from Avery’s 2022 MDRT Annual Meeting presentation “Connect more, convince less” (MDRT member exclusive).

Ryan Avery is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and author who speaks about strategic communication and leadership.

For more ideas about how to excel at storytelling:

• Read “The art of storytelling”
• Listen to “Stories that help explain the need for income replacement”
• Watch “Disrupt yourself and others through expert storytelling” (Top of the Table member exclusive)