You Are Not The Hero

Read on to learn how making an adjustment to your approach in story selling will make all the difference and help you inspire your audience to take action.

You are not the hero. You are the hero maker.

We’re all the hero of our own stories, but when you’re story selling or presenting or demoing to an audience, you, your product or your topic are not the hero. I’m going to show you why making an adjustment to your approach, will make all the difference and help you inspire your audience to take action.

The Hero’s Journey

Let’s start with where the hero’s journey came from. The hero’s journey is a cyclical way of telling a story that follows a hero along from their call to adventure, all the way to when they return victorious with the prize. Joseph Campbell, originally came up with this cycle and discovered that there were certain key points that cross cultures and that we use constantly. You’ve seen it over and over again in your favorite movies, your favorite shows, and all over the place.

Help your audience see themselves as the hero

We’ve adapted this concept specifically for people to be able to tell better business stories as well. You need to remember that you are not the hero in the hero’s journey when you’re presenting or demoing to an audience. You should concentrate on making the shift where your audience members, the people you’re talking to, are the hero. To do this, you want to find things that they desire or that they want fixed in their business, and help them see themselves as the hero. Let them see that you’re going to help them on their quest to slay some dragons. What’s a hero story without dragons?

Show your audience how to overcome conflicts

There’s got to be some sort of conflict, otherwise, stories aren’t exciting. Conflict for you as the presenter might be that your clients need to be able to have better quarterly returns or be able to help convince their audience that their product is the right solution for them. There are all kinds of things that could be conflicts, but you are going to help them overcome.

Conclusion:

You are not the hero of the story, but you do play a pivotal role because you are the trusted mentor, like Gandalf, that helps your hero in the audience, be able to go on their quest and successfully return victorious. Your topic, your solution or the product that you are demoing becomes the magic elixir. It’s the thing that you’re showing them. It’s the shortcut to them becoming the hero they want to be. Make your audience the hero of the story and watch as they feel more motivated to take action and quickly give you their trust as their mentor with the magic elixir.

OMH, a boutique creative agency that nourishes enterprise software companies (Microsoft and SAP) and their partners with marketing services and training that drive sales.

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