How to start your business story
with a bang

Part 2

How to start your business story with a bang – Part 2

How to start your business story with a bang – Part 2 370 218 Shlomi Ron


Continuing in my blog series uncovering the wide range of ways to start an effective business story, I’ll start with a simple question:

How are you pitching your product to prospects?

Are you focusing first on your backstory that led you to develop the product? the problem? or touting your solution features?

These are all fine ways as the story ingredients are modular and can be used in any order.

How to start a business story - part 2

Your business story is like a cooking recipe, in order to motivate your audience to try it,
start your story by visualizing how the final dish would look like.



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However, another sure-fire storytelling strategy is to start your pitch by painting a positive “what if” future – focusing on positive rewards of using your product – vs. starting with a problem that may discourage.

This is a huge lesson especially these days when doom stories tend to dominate the public discourse.

If your prospect could see herself in your future story basking in all reward types; the personal, professional and big purpose – she’ll then be more inclined to buy a ticket and invest in the journey to get there.

So to illustrate better what I mean, let’s use the example I started off with.

You’re pitching your product to new prospects.

Translation: a bunch of strangers at the top of your buyer’s journey you convinced to move from Discover stage to Learn stage. That means you have more attention bandwidth to play with. So your audience has some basic interest coupled with some incentive that lured them in to attend your event.  Your Lunch & Learn audience with potential prospects is now sitting comfortably in your large conference room, waiting for you to start the presentation.

Instead of starting off by introducing yourself to them and talking about your backstory, move directly into a “What if” statement aided by visuals. This way your audience can envision a) what would it really feels to use your product, b) how it would solve their burning problem and c) what are the other benefits your solution can offer them.

By starting out your business story with your desired outcome, you create a wow moment right from the start that plants the desire with your audience to get this amazing widget you’re offering. But then you switch to the current state and lay out the obstacles of solving the problem. At this point, your audience spirit may drop a few notches as they believe your pitch was just a pipe dream.

But then you transition to the bridge segment of your story and show them “the secret path” to how they can enter your “exclusive Xanadu” and buy your widget by following certain call-to-action steps.

Try this tactic the next time you need pitch business and share with us your experiences. Need help articulating your business narrative? Book a FREE conversation to learn more about Visual Storytelling Workshop.

Shlomi Ron

Shlomi Ron is the founder and CEO of the Visual Storytelling Institute, a Miami-based think tank with a mission to bring the gospel of visual storytelling from the world of art to more human-centric and purpose-driven marketing. A digital marketing veteran with over 20 years of experience working both on the agency and brand sides for Fortune 100/500 brands such as Nokia, IBM, and American Express. He started VSI to combine his marketing expertise with his passion for visual stories stemming from his interests in classic Italian cinema and managing the estate of video art pioneer, Buky Schwartz. At VSI, he helps brands rise above the communication noise through visual storytelling consulting, training, and thought leadership. Select clients include Estée Lauder, Microsoft, and Cable & Wireless – to name a few. He currently teaches Brand Storytelling at the University of Miami’s Business School. Thought leader and speaker at key marketing conferences. He is also the host of the Visual Storytelling Today podcast, which ranks in the top 10 best business storytelling podcasts on the Web. His book: Total Acuity: Tales with Marketing Morals to Help You Create Richer Visual Brand Stories. Outside work, he is a nascent bread baker, The Moth fan, and longtime fedora wearer likely to jive with his classic Italian cinema interest.

All stories by: Shlomi Ron

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