Biography

“Keynote speaker Kindra Hall tells us about The Art of Storytelling in Business and how seemingly ordinary people, brands, and companies can become exceptional though the use of proper storytelling. In her fascinating keynote speech, Kindra Hall teaches audiences how to be memorable, influential, compelling, and effective by tapping into something that already exists – their own stories.

Kindra Hall explains that using The Art of Storytelling in Business is a three-part process, which includes:

Finding the story.

Crafting the story for maximum positive emotional impact.

Telling the story in the most memorable way.

Great salespeople and marketing experts tell wonderful stories. Why does this work? Simply because humans are hard-wired to respond to storytelling. People still enjoy sitting around a campfire telling stories; a basic human instinct that dates back to ancient times. Telling stories was always both a way to pass on our culture and entertain us, all at the same time.

Super Stories

The best commercials shown during the Super Bowl have the same exact dynamics. The ones that have the most impact are those that are great stories. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end, along with characters the audience cares about. The most successful companies in the world know a lot about the power of storytelling.

During the 2014 Super Bowl, a Budweiser commercial told a story called “Puppy Love”, about a little dog that befriends a Clydesdale horse at a ranch. Circumstances try to separate the two of them but nevertheless, the puppy overcomes all to be with the horse. Puppies, horses, and friendship make a terrific storytelling combination.

This commercial is considered to be one of the best ones ever made by the beer company Anheuser-Busch. Funny enough, the story has nothing directly to do with beer at all; however, it associates friendship with beer and that is a very powerful brand motivator.

Keynote speaker Kindra Hall asks us to consider “why does storytelling work so well”?

First, storytelling gives us the ability to fast track trust. When we meet a new prospect in business the first thing they are asking themselves is “Can I trust this person?” A story can answer this question in a positive way and do it very quickly.

The strength of your message is no longer just how well you can tell your network what you do. It is now about how well your network can tell other networks what you do. Stories that convey a memorable meaning are more easily passed along. It is this characteristic that makes things go “viral” on the Internet. If we want to grab people’s attention, we tell stories because people simply cannot help themselves when it comes to their interest in stories.

How to Find Your Story

Keynoter Kindra Hall teaches us how to find our story. It can be a personal story or the story of your brand. In fact, your personal story may actually be the best story for your brand!

She uses the example of a woman who started a purse company. The reason she started the company was that she lost her parents. This tremendous loss was the main catalyst for her success as that became the story of her brand. Her success actually came out of her tremendous grief. Kindra Hall asks that we notice that her story is very emotional and has nothing to do directly with the subject of purses. She could be making anything else and the story would still be just as powerful.

This is the essence of good storytelling. We do not buy just things. We buy what things will do for us. A $50 handbag may carry our stuff just as effectively as a $5,000 designer bag. The difference between the two is the story about them and the stories that can be told about them. Kindra shows salespeople how to avoid the trap of getting stuck in price talk when they shift to telling stories that create value in the minds of their customers.

What are Not Stories?

Stories are not mission statements. They are not a history lesson about the date a company started. They are not a list of bullet points. Nobody cares about these things. Stories are not high-level vague talk. Kindra Halls hopes we stop saying things like “We believe in excellence and going above and beyond for our customers.” Who does not believe in excellence? Who does not want to help their customers? Those kinds of platitudes are not stories. They are not going to differentiate your company from another one.

A good story is emotionally engaging, and the good news is that storytelling is a teachable skill. In her dynamic keynote presentation, Kindra Hall shares techniques to help us create our own stories. She creates imagery in the minds of her audiences and shows them how to become fantastic storytellers themselves.”