Pierre du Plessis On How To Master Storytelling

Storytelling is an integral part of doing business. What your product looks like, the packaging used, how you market your offering, the way you engage with your customer - you are telling stories every step of the way.

Think about it. Your business idea is technically a story. Your product offering is informed by stories you've heard or created for yourself over time. When you're talking to your customer about your product, you are telling stories. And what is marketing but measured storytelling?

This is because stories are an inescapable part of the human condition. They are how we make sense of everything around us and in us. They are how we connect with each other and to things. They bring out the ultimate emotions in us and, as everybody knows from experience, emotion and spending money go hand in hand.

Award-winning raconteur and storyteller extraordinaire Pierre du Plessis agrees.

"The moment you're engaging the people that you seek to serve or your customers in a story, you're actually engaging a very primitive part of their brain and a very emotional part of their brain. Because human beings are funny things - we don't do anything unless we feel emotional about it. We make emotional decisions all the time. Like, I've bought a car just for the smell, because it reminded me of something. It's stupid and we waste so much money but we make decisions based on emotions. So if you want to engage somebody's emotions to try and get them to make a decision, you have to tell them a story because that's what a story does. A story builds up emotion and then people are like, "That's awesome. Here, take my money!"

Pierre is a jack of many trades but storytelling is the golden thread that runs through everything that he does. Currently the Chief Academic Officer and Head of Content at Coachbit, he's had a varied career in multiple disciplines, from public speaking, writing, and social impact to strategy and consulting for artists, designers, technologists and international CEOs alike. He's also a 'dissident preacher'.

"I'm a preacher, a speaker and a writer, and for the past 15 to 20 years, I've been communicating and trying to convince people to do something. To take action. I've discovered along the way how powerful storytelling is in doing that. A part of my academic studies was in Narrative Theology, understanding that the narrative is really important, the story is really important. I've just grown to love it so much over the past 10 or 15 years, and it's because it's such a powerful tool. It just works really well when we use a story to explain something, to get people to get something".

Pierre's top storytelling tip for entrepreneurs?

It's very important in storytelling to make the customer the hero. You are not the hero, you are not Luke Skywalker. You are actually Yoda, you are the sage.?The reason for this is that human beings are selfish. We are interested in self-preservation and we are all living our own stories. Everybody is playing the hero in their own story. Now, if I'm asking you to become a supporting actor in my story, that's frustrating. Heroes don't like that. When you're positioning yourself, your business, as the hero, you're actually opposing your customer rather than serving them. And that's not the position that you need to take. The position you need to take is that of Yoda, of the sage, of the wise old guy that comes and helps the hero".?

So, what would your business look like if you paid attention to your story?

Tonight we will unpack what makes a compelling story - and how you can thread that story into your business to forge stronger bonds with your customers, retain your team and increase your revenue. From 6 pm at Workshop17 in Sandton, Pierre will be joined by world-famous author Lauren Beukes, who will be patching in from the UK, for an exclusive discussion on the craft of storytelling. Tickets are still available here and Heavy Chef members get 2 seats free (not a member yet? Sign up for free here).

The event will also be streamed live and free here.

You can also check out Pierre's recipe on Storytelling In Business on our education platform here.