Here is today’s question – what’s your signature story?
The story that you know works every time.
That when you tell it in a pitch, presentation or meeting – you can feel the room or individual you’re speaking to start to SHIFT.
A shift from logically thinking about the transformation, change or results you’re trying to describe to actually feeling them.
When the whole room starts to embody the exact moment in time and space that you’re describing. The smells, the sights, the sounds. The situation or struggle, and the possibility of what might happen next.
That shift as an influencer is where all the magic happens.
In that space, they stop hearing your story, and they start hearing their story.
The struggles they are currently facing.
The transformation they could experience.
The results that are available for them.
Having worked in the speaking industry, I’ve heard literally thousands of signature stories.
Stories designed to shift hearts and minds on a particular idea or topic. Stories that the tellers themselves have honed and refined over years, with precision of surgeon, to make sure they are as impactful as humanly possible.
I’ve seen those that work, those that fail and those rare few that have the ability to shift an entire room on its axis in a matter of minutes.
And yet, the science of the signature story has always remained largely a mystery.
We know it needs to be personal, human. That it needs to be visceral, painting an exact picture of a moment in time. And it needs to be authentic, true to you and usually describe some kind of breakthrough or epiphany.
But the secret sauce? Hard to tell.
So when I happened to be in a room listening to today’s guest decode signature stories in a way I had never heard before, I knew I had to have him on the podcast.
Today’s Guest
Colin Boyd is obsessed with helping experts and entrepreneurs present in a way that creates action or sell from stage in a non pushy or sleazy way.
He keynotes at conferences around the world on topics such as persuasive communication and selling ideas. His clients include Coca Cola, Suncorp, Fuji Xero, and Hewlett Packard.
He runs high-level mastermind programs for speakers and content creators and delivers his signature program Sell From Stage Academy® which helps people turn every presentation into a conversion machine.
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinboyd/
Instagram & Facebook @colinboyd
Colin has literally dedicated his whole career and business to decoding the stories that work and more importantly compel people to take action.
However, what I want you to focus on during our conversation is not necessarily the numbers, although they are impressive, but the potential.
This isn’t just a conversation about selling, although you could transform your sales results by applying even one lesson. This is a conversation about traction – about bridging the gap between the action you want people to take and them actually taking it.
To use Colin’s language, your ONLY role as an influencer, as a leader, as a speaker, is to create and hold a ‘sacred space of transformation’.
Then your next job?
Finding the most compelling way to invite people in.
Your story, especially the parts of it that you find the most uncomfortable to tell, is always the most compelling way.
You’ll Learn
- Why identifying and learning to tell your signature story is the fastest route to creating action – for anyone, anywhere, on any topic.
- The biggest mistakes people make when it comes to telling their signature story and how to avoid them.
- The three keys of a signature story – including getting the balance right between vulnerability (i.e. where you failed) and invincibility (where you succeeded) – and why most of us only feel comfortable at one end of that spectrum.
- The exact formula of a compelling signature story
- Finally, why finding and telling your signature story is always a journey inward and – like any inward journey the most important ingredient is courage.
References and links mentioned
- My new ebook The Influencer Code and survey https://www.juliemasters.com/survey
- Colin’s signature story formula http://sellwithstoryguide.com
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Subscribe to and Review the Inside Influence Podcast
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Inside Influence Podcast! If the information in my conversations and interviews have helped you in your business journey, please head over to iTunes, subscribe to the show, and as a special request if you could spare a few minutes of your time visit https://www.juliemasters.com/survey and answer 5 questions about YOUR journey as an influencer.
Also, don’t forget to hop on my website juliemasters.com and download my new ebook The Influencer Code.
