Storytelling: A Secret Ingredient in Effective Networking

The process of connecting with people is made up of a lot of moving parts.  The initial meeting is your chance to be memorable and can lay the ground work for a next meeting or perhaps a long-term relationship.

Shaking hands, a smile, the business card exchange.  Then conversation.  What to say? Where is this going? When you see where the path of the meeting is taking you, consider what stories you are going to tell to help support the point you are trying to make and support the themes of who you are and what you do.

So, how do I weave a story?  There are some basic elements.  In the October issue of Spirit Magazine, there is a story on “The Art of Storytelling.” in that series of stories I found a simple primer on what a good (or effective) story needs to have:

  1. Create tension between what you deliver and what your audience expects.
  2. Base the story’s theme on attractive opposites.
  3. Write a one-liner to end the story.

What does this have to do with business in today’s social-media-fueled age? Well, before there was even the printed word, there was conversation and in that conversation, stories.  Stories make up hundreds of pieces of our lives from family oral history to business tales.  The common thread is it helps your audience (your new network contact) see themselves in you or your work.

By telling effective, relatable stories you make yourself more real to the people around you.  being known is better than being unknown. With your stories you ahve control of how they know you.

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