DesignTool: Storytelling

Challenge & Selection:

I am in the financial services industry and we use storytelling all the time. Often we attempt to develop  stories that will do two things: first, it will take a complicated concept and break it down into easier-to- understand elements and second, create a lasting picture I can refer back to in the future. Our industry  is rife with financial jargon. We use it all of the time internally to create short-cuts to save time. A lot of  industries do it. As a matter of fact, I was at a diner one time and ordered two scrambled eggs and toast.  The waitress turned around and screamed, “Adam and Eve on a raft—wreck ‘em!” I guess that was the  start of my storytelling—or using words to paint pictures since I remember it years later. Storytelling is a  combination of art meets science. You want to be genuine and relevant. Often people believe  storytelling is a long story with no real ending or worse, it will make you sound folksy, but, people like  stories. They like knowing others are struggling with the same information and feel connected.

Application:

One of the problems that has plagued the financial services industry for a long time is the dominance of  men in the industry—on both sides of the table. Many husbands still come in for meetings without their  wives even though we urge them to include their spouses. Often, the first time we see them is when  their husband passes away.

We see them at the funeral and then we make sure to have them in for an appointment to go through  their financial situation. Often it is with many tears and we are unsure of how much is really sticking.  Because of the need for understanding, the lack of previous knowledge, and their emotional state, I  adopted a plan of storytelling and visualization to explain concepts and hopefully cement them in her  memory so when we talk again we can start gaining ground without having to go back to square one.

I met with a lady that had lost her husband recently. He was a proud Mexican man that didn’t believe in  the wife worrying about money. I routinely would recommend he bring her in to meet us in case  something happened. He was polite but I knew he would not be bringing her on his next visit. She  showed up in my office a week or so after the funeral. I could tell she was overwhelmed and was  struggling to stay focused. I decided to begin with a story.

I spent time talking to her about her husband. Reliving some of the conversations we had and the many  nice trips he had with her and their kids. How proud he was to be a grandfather and how he wanted to  take care of her so she would never have to worry. She smiled and tears came down her face. I wasn’t  trying to make her cry, I wanted her to know that she and I both shared in her loss and that we had a  common bond.

Next I discussed her family business back in Mexico—one she had worked in for most of her childhood.  It was an agave farm and processing plant. She helped farm, process, and even sell the various products.  So I took her financial accounts and converted them to an agave farm. I discussed her balance sheet like  it was an income statement showing how the money they saved became the revenue from agave. Then  how her monthly expenses were the costs associated with harvesting and processing the plants. I even  discussed getting her someone to assist in the housework so she could take it easy for a while—just like

the employees on her farm were there to make it a little easier. She perked up because she understood  what I was saying and loved remembering the farm. She jumped in with stories of her own as I talked  about diversifying the farm into other crops—just like her husband did with his money.

Insight:

We spent two hours going through her investments. As we finished, she hugged me and thanked me for  all the great work but mostly for the memories. She said she was scared coming-in because she felt  dumb when it came to money, but the farm stories really helped. It really made me realize how much  storytelling can trigger greater knowledge and understanding. It built rapport and developed a common  language we still use. She refers to the agave farm often and it is a way for us to connect quickly to past  concepts.

Approach:

As I use this example with my team, we are sharing ways to improve the storytelling method to clients.  We have seen a higher retention rate, better meetings, increased education and overall an uptick in our  client experience.

We have expanded our storytelling to include visualization where we draw illustrations to describe  complex concepts through a picture while we tell a story. It is increasing the speed at which we can shift  subjects because clients are understanding so much faster than in previous meetings. This means less  time in meetings, increased understanding, and more sales and referrals.

