How good are you at telling a story? Not so hot? Well then it's time to brush up and hone that skill because your business, every business, is basically a story. And how well you tell that story will determine if people (i.e. your customers) will continue to listen or politely walk away.

How do you tell a good story?

You start with a captivating, intriguing hook. In the business equivalent, that would ideally be your company name. That's why evocative, and even provocative, names work so well. So in the elevator at the trade show it goes something like this... "Who are you here with ?" You then share your company name. If it's interesting, you'll probably get asked for more. If it's purely descriptive, (i.e. Superior Sprockets) they will assume they get the whole picture and move on. But if you say...

"I'm with Virgin."

...You just might get some interesting looks. Someone might say, "I'm sorry, did you say 'Virgin'?" And then you would segue into how you represent the airline or record company by that name. If the conversation moved down the hall, you might explain that Virgin represents certain attributes of the company, such as new approaches and fresh ideas to old technologies. That's just one of many examples of telling a story.

So just what are the key components of this great story? First there's the name. We covered that. Then there's the descriptor phrase. That's not the same as the tag line. The descriptor phrase tells, in a handful of words, exactly what it is you do. The tag line might be seen as too promotional to add in at this point. So imagine again being asked what company you are with and you say "Nike". "Really?" comes the response. (Pretend for demonstration's sake there's still someone who hasn't heard of Nike.) "What do they do?" At this point you would not say, "Just do it!" but instead say something like, "We're a world class provider of athletic gear."

The next step, if you've kept your audience engaged, is to go onto the :15 elevator speech. Keep it short and simple and focused. Load it up with benefits that will keep listeners listening. So here's an example based on some of the work we've done.

Elevator door closes.

"Hi! Boring conference eh? Who are you here with?"

"I'm with TKO Surgical."

"TKO? Like the boxing term TKO?" (Quizzical look)

"Exactly!"

"What do you guys do?"

"We're a high end distributor of spinal implants in the northwest."

"So why the TKO?"

"It sort of mirrors our philosophy of being fighters. We work to help the doctors get what their patients really need. And a lot of times that means fighting all the red tape and insurance companies."

"Hey, that's really cool. Do you have a card?"

"Sure." (Hands over card)

"Well take it easy... and 'knock yourself out!'" (Laughs)

Now imagine if those elevator doors had first closed and the answer to the initial question was "I'm with United Medical Management Associates." There's a good chance the conversation would have gone no further. There's no story starter there. In fact, you might just put them to sleep on their feet.

So take a few minutes and review your story. How does it start? Is it engaging? Compelling? Even mildly interesting? And it doesn't have to depend on being named Monster or Amazon. One of our clients is simply named SupplyAmerica, but it begs the question "Supply what?"

So build around the name, then the descriptor phrase, then the short elevator speech and you'll have built a great story and the foundation for a great brand!

Phil Davis President Tungsten Brilliant Brand Marketing Phil