Start With A Win - How Storytelling Transforms Your Business with Kindra Hall

Episode Date: October 6, 2021

In this episode of Start With A Win, Adam introduces President and Chief Storytelling Officer at Steller Collective, Kindra Hall. Steller Collective is a consulting firm “focused on the strategic application of storytelling to today’s communication challenges.” Kindra’s interest in storytelling sparked at a young age during a family vacation road trip after listening to a storytelling tape by the National Storytelling Festival. She reflects how this experience unified her family, despite different age gaps and interests. Since then, she transformed her passion for storytelling into a career. Kindra explains how storytelling is co-creative, differentiating it from other forms of communication. This co-creative process enables people to create their own versions of relatability, creating a shared experience with the interpersonal connection. She elaborates how this applies in business—people say yes to the story of the products or services rather than its features. Kindra’s book, Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business, provides insights into why storytelling is an effective business strategy, including a framework for creating compelling stories. Kindra addresses the #1 common mistake for storytelling in business—people try to convey big concepts, resulting in vague stories. This approach prevents opportunities to connect with others emotionally. Instead of persuasive language, Kindra suggests focusing on one moment. This moment should address a person’s hopes, struggles, or fears, producing a story that reveals a solution people can resonate with and understand. Paying attention to your audience is key. Consider what you want your audience to think, feel, know, or act after engaging with your story. Having clarity of the objective and understanding your audience will guide you into the story you should tell. Links:Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Businesshttps://www.storiesthatstick.com/Connect with Kindra:https://www.kindrahall.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kindrahall/https://twitter.com/kindramhallhttps://www.instagram.com/kindrahall/https://www.stellercollective.com/Connect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/Leave us a voicemail:888-581-4430

Every day is filled with choices. You're here because you're choosing to start with a win. Get ready to be inspired, learn something new, and connect with the win nation. Coming to you from Denver, Colorado, home of Remax World Headquarters, it's Adam Contos, CEO of Remax with Start With Win. Oh, what? Mark is playing the music again. You want to dance some more, Mark? I just want to keep it going. Oh, I like it. Yeah, you could do like a mixtape with our rolling music.

That's right. DJ, producer Mark. Put a beat on it there. Cool. Hey, Mark, you are, I mean, I know you're really big into storytelling and how that impacts how we think about life, aren't you? Oh yeah. I'm a good fan of a story. We connect as humans, right? As everything that we pull in, we turn into a story. And so I love it. You're so, you're so right. I mean, what do we talk to our kids about? Things

like that. So this is really cool. We have a great guest on today. So I'm honored to introduce to the show Kendra Hall. She's the president and chief storytelling officer. I love that title at Stellar Collective, which is a consulting firm focused on the strategic application of storytelling in today's communication challenges. Kindra is one of the most sought after keynote speakers trusted by global brands to deliver presentations and trainings that inspire teams and individuals to better communicate the value of their company. Isn't that a challenge a lot of people face is communication? So this is done through storytelling. So Kindra is also a contributing editor to Success Magazine and was a guest faculty at the Harvard Medical School. So Kendra, welcome to Start With A

Win. Adam, I am so thrilled to be here. Love your dance moves. Producer Mark was just crushing it. Thanks for having me. Oh, you're welcome. That guy's, I mean, Producer Mark's got some talent. You ought to hear him sing. I can't wait. Maybe later. All right. There you go. So, Kendra, tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, I mean, you, you said it right there in the introduction. My work, my life really has been

entirely focused on the power of storytelling and how we can tap into those often overlooked, sometimes so small that we don't even realize that they're there, those stories that connect people. Now, in addition to that, I also, I live in New York City. I'm a mother to two kids. I've got a dog, a husband. I do all that as well. Awesome. So, I mean, storytelling has been a part of your life, it seems like, based on what I've learned about you for a long, long time. And it includes a backstory of a family trip where you listen to a storytelling tape, for those of did that encounter with storytelling hit you? I mean, what was, there must've been like an aha moment there or something that you really enjoyed about it that, that you've carried through life. I mean, tell us about that story itself to

core kind of phrase here. Adam, you know, I was, yeah. Tell us that story. You got it. Let me see if I can, let me see if I can make that happen. But I was one of those people who found what I was meant to do at a very young age. So when that car ride happened, I think I was about 12 years old. We were in my family's Astro Star minivan. We were driving up to our cabin. I grew up in Minnesota, so a cabin was a part of life. I was about a five to six hour drive. And it was my dad always drove, my mom in the passenger seat. I got the middle to myself because I was the oldest and then my brother and sister in the back. And we all liked to do different things in the car. We're all different people. My dad liked to listen to the twins or the Vikings, depending on the season. My mom liked to read a book and then would complain

about the twins at the Vikings playing. My sister would fall asleep. My brother would read, I would read. And one time my brother was listening to a cassette tape in a Walkman. Yes, for those of you who know what that is. And I remember he was so annoying because he kept laughing, like bursting out into laughter. And finally, we made him take out the cassette tape and we put it into the communal tape player in the van. And it was. It was a recording from the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee. If you didn't know that there is such a thing as a national storytelling festival, there is. And it was just each track was,

is that what they were called? Were they called tracks? I don't even know. But each track was a separate story. Someone telling a story, a small story from their life. Sometimes they were funny, which is why my brother was laughing. And I remember them putting the cassette tape in, pushing play. And for the first time, all five of us with different interests, different attitudes, different expectations of what should happen in the family Astro Star van, we all came together and were enjoying these stories simultaneously and coming at it from different sides. You know, my dad understood the stories differently than I did. And we got to the cabin and none of us really wanted to get out of the car. And that was just one in a series of many, many moments. I'm sure, you know, we all have these moments along our journey where it's like, aha, yes, this is what it's all about. That was one of them for me, that story's ability to

bring people together, to allow for differences, but to still have that communal feeling. It was a pretty powerful, unsuspecting moment. That's, I mean, when you, when you listen to what you're talking about here, there are so many extraordinarily powerful outcomes that a business or an entrepreneur or just a human being can take from this simply because of that power of storytelling. It's fascinating because what happens at, you know, all the way from when we're a little kid and they say, okay, it's story time and everybody runs at the front of the classroom and they sit down, everybody just stops what they're doing and they listen and they, they fall into the story. I mean, why does that happen psychologically? Do you, I mean, do you have any idea as far as,

I mean, it's what happens to us that pulls us into these things. It's fascinating to me. It will. And it's so, I thought it's, you're right. It is so fascinating and, and it is programmed into us. We can't help ourselves as humans, but to be drawn into a great story. I mean, and this, this happens in all different ways around us. For example, I had a, I had a friend, this was, this was a couple of years ago. And, and I think about it often because it was so cruel knowing what I know about storytelling, but I called her,

she didn't pick up. And I rarely leave a voicemail because I rarely listen to my voicemails. But I did leave her a voicemail because, and this is what I said to her, I said, oh my gosh, call me back. Have I got a story for you? And I hung up. But then, you know, I went about my day. I had some meetings. I had some podcasts, things where I couldn't check my phone. She called me multiple times. She texted me. She was trying to, because she wanted to know what that story was. So we see this happen all the time. Our brain releases different important chemicals as we hear stories, which draws us in even closer. And I think one of the unsung or untapped into or underestimated power of storytelling, particularly in business, but in life in general, is the storytelling process has a leveraging point that other forms of communication simply

don't have. And that is storytelling is co-creative. So as I am telling you my story, you are creating your own version of it in your mind. So Adam, even as I was telling you my story. You are creating your own version of it in your mind. So Adam, even as I was telling you the story of the minivan, did you picture a car that you and your family used to travel in? Yes, you're nodding, right? Because that is- Totally, totally. And you could see it now.

I was picturing our Astro Star, which had like a certain color interior and exterior. Could you see the interior of your vehicle? What color was it? It was tan. See? That was horrible. I know, it was always horrible.

But you didn't know that that was happening. I did because this is my job. But it has, that co-creative process has the ability then to help us blur the lines between my story and your story. Suddenly, it becomes a shared experience. You're sitting in the van there with me. Now, in sales, that's a big deal.

In marketing, that's a big deal. Anytime you're trying to build a bridge between people, that's a big deal to have them sitting right there with you. It's, it's really interesting when you say this, the way that you're describing it, because when you start, um, and I, I know as you tell a story, you start to stimulate different senses of the human body that have absolutely nothing to do with what's going on in your surroundings at the time. I mean, it's like, you know, you talk about the, that old car from the, you know, uh, from call it the eighties or whatever. And, and you're, you can smell the interior. You can, you can feel the heat of the environment or the cold or

whatever it might be. I mean, it's just, it's interesting how your body reacts, how your brain says, okay, here's what you're experiencing right now during a story. I mean, but that's like part of the expert style of telling a story, right? I mean, isn't that what, instead of just saying, here's the features and benefits of my product, I mean, how do people, you mentioned businesses, how should businesses think about this when it comes to delivering that experience? Because that's really what it is. Walt Disney wanted to deliver experience and he's telling stories. How do we build that into our business?

Right. It's such a great question and so many people are asking it and so few actually nail the answer. So let me tell you what it is, is to remember that, and you mentioned sales. In sales, for example, we do not say yes to the features and benefits. We don't say yes to the thing. We aren't sold on the thing or the logic. Now, in the absence of the story, we might revert to the logic because we have nothing else to work with. But in a perfect scenario, we say yes to the story of what that thing will mean in our lives. What is possible with this product or what is possible with this service or this person or this company. And then with the features and benefits, we justify that decision. But we make those decisions first on the stories that we're told, assuming that we're told one.

So that leads me to the question of your book. Number two on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, Stories That Stick. Tell us, what is the book about and what are some of the insights that the readers can expect? Well, the book, I think a great way to describe how I like to describe what the book is about is to explain my reason for writing it in that. So, you know, I've grown up with storytelling as a big part of my life. And then I went to graduate school in management and communication. I worked in sales. I worked in marketing. I was realizing that people weren't putting two and two together. Stories weren't a part of business. And so I, like many people, I mean, storytelling has become quite a buzzword in business, went looking for

the books about storytelling in business. And I found a few, but when I read them, please pardon me for saying this, but it's the truth. They were bad or, or at least they weren't bad, but they left even me, the storytelling person saying, okay, I get that storytelling is important, but, but what do I do next? Now I knew what to do next, but I knew they were, there were plenty of people who would read that and say, close the book and say, great, but how, what, what do I do? And so I really wrote stories that stick to, to not only share the reasons why storytelling is an effective strategy and a skill that you should build and use, but to also offer the how. Here are the stories, if you're in business, that you need to be telling. Here's the framework for putting a story together. Here are the

components, which we at my firm ran through research study to test what makes a compelling story, what makes it influential, what makes it give it that sticky feeling so that it, so that the book, and of course there's a lot of stories in the book, but that you close that book and you think to yourself, ah, I now know what to do. And in fact, that you don't close it forever. You go back and reread the pages where you underline things and where you put in your post-it notes and flag the pages. So that's what Stories That Stick is about, to give people what they need to put this incredible tool to work. A lot of people are struggling with all the noise in society of people, I'll call it feature dumping on them, coming in and just throwing what, here's why you need to buy my product. And a lot of times it has to do with fear

influencing people into buying a product, which I don't believe is the right way to get people to buy things. I think there has to be a, just an intrinsic emotional connection to something to help them. Maybe it solves their challenges or gives them hope of, of change or a better future or something like that. But they don't understand that unless they can see themselves in the place with that product. So, I mean, how do we, when you go into a company and consult for them and we have a lot of entrepreneurs in real estate and sales and insurance and mortgage and things like that, they'll listen to the show around the world and they're probably going, I can help you do this. I help people go from this to that, you know, whatever it might be that whatever the sales gurus are telling them to

make their elevator pitch with, they're not telling them to tell a story by any means, which is probably a big part of the problem. What advice do you have for them? How can they, how can they change where they're at in their business to be effective in telling the story of their solutions? Yeah, I, this is, this is a big question and it's a question so big that a lot of people don't even ask it. So the first step is asking this question, which is great. A few things that I would, that I would recommend. Number one, one of the big mistakes that happen when it comes to storytelling in business is because of its buzzword status, everything has kind of become or qualifies as a story. So I was just reading the back of a package of, of, um, it was sweet

potato fries. Okay. So frozen sweet potato fries. This was just yesterday. And on the back of the package, it says, our story. Now, of course, my brain's like, great, tell me a story. And I start reading it and it's, our fries are sourced from the best ingredients. And I'm like, that is not a story. That is a bunch of goblins.

If I were to try to pass that off to my kids at bedtime, they would be mad, okay? So that is not a story. That is a bunch of goblins. If I were to try to pass that off to my kids at bedtime, they would be mad. Okay. So that, that is not a story. What I would recommend is instead of all of the, oh, I can help you do this. And think about one moment, people try to go big with stories and then they just get too vague and you miss out on the opportunity to connect with people emotionally, to sit them next to you in the van as you're driving up to your cabin or wherever you're going in your imagination. So zoom in, start small, choose. You mentioned real estate, of course. Choose one client who you have helped find their dream home.

One person, one, one family, one single parent, whoever it is, one. And then think about that person, who they were, what they were hopeful for, what they were struggling with, what they were doubtful about, the fears that they had, the concerns. And then tell that story. Because as you're telling it, the people listening to it will see themselves there. They're going to put themselves in it. And then of course, as the story progresses, you will, through the telling of the story, tell the part about how you solved their problem and you found this perfect house. Like that is intrinsic. And they will feel that as the story is told. So choose one, start small, and think about all of the different, if you're selling a product, if your product is homes, whatever it is, take each one of those features and

benefits. Well, what does that feature mean in someone's life? Tell the story about that. The other thing that I would recommend is to pay really close attention to who you're telling the story to and what the message is you really want to deliver. At the end of hearing this story, what do you want

that particular person to think, feel, know, or do? The clarity of your objective and the really clear understanding of who that person is will guide you in what story you should tell. That's the cross-section where those two things meet. That'll tell you what story to tell. That's the cross section where those two things meet. That'll tell you what story to tell. Great information. I mean, and a completely different way of looking at things than from a salesy perspective. And, you know, sales have to happen, but we want people to want to buy our product or service instead of us trying to, you know, trick them into it or whatever some of these fancy sales pitches do. I mean, tell them the story of your product and how it helps people and let them fall into that story. So some great information there. Just real quick, storytelling or the delivery of storytelling is evolving. I mean, we're seeing, you know, obviously people are binge watching on Netflix and, you

know, there's a lot more video going on. Uh, but you know, obviously storytelling started, call it on a cave wall with hieroglyphics at some point. So, um, how do you think storytelling is evolving in business now to touch people on a personal level? Are there ways that businesses are evolving, not just what their story is, but how they're delivering it? Well, I think there can be opportunities for that. I think that, I mean, the easiest one to look to is social media. Now, social media, there's a love-hate relationship with it, but there are so many opportunities to tell so many stories. And that's one of the other big challenges that businesses have is their mindset that they have to find one great story or a handful,

like two or three great stories. Listen, every single one of your customers is a story waiting to be told. So here you have endless stories on one hand, and because of the evolution of social media, which I can't even predict how that is going to expand and change, you have an ever-growing platform or series of platforms to be sharing those stories. Now, the question is, do you put those two together or do you ignore each of the little stories

that are happening that can make a really big difference and just put out garbage on social media that nobody engages with anyway? Great points, thank you. Choice is yours. You hit the nail on the head there. Kendra Hall, Chief Storytelling Officer at Stellar Collective, amazing human being, bestselling author on storytelling and business

and people's personal lives. I have a question I ask everybody that comes on Start With A Win, and that is how do you start your day with a win? Now you warned me about this. And then of course, through your dance moves, I started wondering like, how do I start? How do I start my day? I don't know how I start my day. Maybe it's with some dance moves. Yeah, that's all it is. No, I will say actually how, like in the smallest way, and this is true for storytelling too, go small, right? Find the smallest instead of some big thing. The smallest way I start my day every day is I never hit snooze on my alarm. Now, sometimes I don't set my alarm because I've decided that I'm going to wake up when I wake up. But when I do set my alarm, I never hit snooze. That's when I'm getting up and I've already won

when I do. I love that. Thank you so much for being on Start With A Win. Everybody, make sure you check out Kendra's book, Stories That Stick, number two on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list. And thanks for being on Start With A Win. Thank you for having me. It was so fun. Hey, and thanks so much for listening to Start With A Win. If you'd like to ask Adam a question or tell us your Start With A Win story, give us a call and leave us a message at 888-581-4430. Also the start with a win book is coming out. So don't forget to pre order that. Uh, you can get that wherever you, uh, order books in the world. Uh, but you could also just go to start with win.com and get that, get it there. Uh, don't forget to go on iTunes. If you've been passively listening to this podcast and just press and play, don't forget to hit the subscribe button because then you'll get the episode automatically downloaded and

it'll be great. So, hey, until next time, remember, start with a win. Bye.