Purely Emotional Persuasion: The Use of Storytelling

Sometimes I cry during movies. I'm not ashamed to admit it. In fact, I'm completely at ease and comfortable with the emotions that a good story elicits in me. Movies are stories and stories have been used to bring out emotions since the dawn of time. The better the story, the more moving it is. These responses can be manifested as a 'tear jerker' or a 'feel good', they can be used to inspire, uplift, give hope, or merely entertain. Keep this uppermost in your mind as you think about storytelling: stories open up a hole, so to speak, in the listener, that you can fill with a message. Your message.

When we tell stories in business and when selling, we need to keep in mind the emotional state the story is going to put our prospect in. When we're persuading, we're really using stories to control emotional states. The value of a story is as much in the emotional state it puts my audience in as it is in the point that the story ultimately makes.

My preference is that a story both makes a point and puts someone into a really profound state. What I want to do is I want to carry people away. I want them completely carried away.

We can have an arsenal of emotionally persuasive and powerful stories at our ready at all times. For example, take respect. To a more affluent and, perhaps elderly clientèle, respect is quite possibly a motivating factor.

With my son, I do my level best to instill a sense of respect as he deals with his elders. I reinforce this point with him when I watch him interact. I was with him the other day at his marshal arts lesson. And in front of my son, I addressed his Sensei. I said, 'Sensei, I wanted to tell you that at the last belt advancement that I was just at with my son, I was really impressed. There was a man there that must have been in his seventies.' And Sensei smiled broadly and he said, 'Yes. He's about 73.'

And I said, 'He was up for the test to advance his rank. When it came time for his sparring, his Sensei jumped up to spar with him. I noticed that the older man was having think before reacting, he would see something coming, he would stand there for a brief second and then he would react. It was clear that his faculties weren't as sharp and his body wasn't as quick, but yet, it almost brought tears to my eyes to see this man walking into the ring, walking onto the matt and doing his level best. Moreover, it impressed me that his Sensei made him look so good. He respected him enough to make him look good. I realized this wasn't about outperforming the man, it was about respecting the human spirit.' My son's Sensei just beamed and he responded, 'That's absolutely correct. You've got it right on all fronts.'

So right there was a two paragraph story about respect that probably elicited an emotional response. My goal in the story was that I wanted my son to understand the importance of respecting his elders in the very same way his Sensei showed respect to the man far his elder.

The story worked. It did exactly what I wanted it to do. And the story really touches me, profoundly. I have great love for both the Sensei and for the older gentleman in the ring.

So with emotional story persuasion I'm looking to constantly maneuver the emotions because if I can get you opened up emotionally, I can put anything in that I want. So now I've told you a story about respect. If I'm in front of the room talking or I'm relaying this to a client, what's that going to do? It's going to show you I have respect for my elders. If you were an older person coming to me for financial advice or to buy property or to improve your business or in any way to move forward in your life, what might you now believe about me as a result of hearing that story? That I'm highly respectful.

Now we have the frame of respect set. Within that let's leverage knowledge so the next story might be about the knowledge that somebody has that made them like an undiscovered hero. Then we'd have respect and knowledge.

What are some of your stories that might elicit deep emotional responses and how can you incorporate them into your persuasion repertoire?

About the Author

Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of affluent clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies. You are welcome to reprint this article - but get your own unique content version here.

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