I built a storytelling workshop for children's activity providers. Before running it, I needed someone to break it. So I asked Emma Kelly, a Brighton theatre-maker who runs Wild Elk Productions, to be my guinea pig.
She isn't my target audience. That was the point. If CRAFT, my five-step method, only worked for toddler music classes, I needed to know.
Before
The workshop opens with one question: in one sentence, how do you describe what you do to the people who recommend you?
Emma didn't hesitate. It was already on her website:
"We make shows for theatres, public spaces and unexpected places."
It's accurate with Emma at the centre. There's nothing in it for a venue, a programmer or an audience member to repeat. Most businesses describe themselves the same way. When I analysed 65 children's activity providers, most of them sounded almost identical.
Five steps, three traps
CRAFT asks you to tell the story of one real customer, in five steps. Emma chose a venue she had worked with.
Context: the venue wanted more people to know it existed, and needed to raise money.
Risk: if nothing changed, it might not be able to keep running.
Action: Emma's company engaged the local community and a wider one, and brought a new audience to three sellout shows.
Flip: great reviews, a stream of social posts, and one audience member saying, "I never knew this place existed. I'm going to tell my friends."
Takeaway: the line the venue would say to another venue.
She fell into the three traps almost everyone does.
Her first Risk described the situation, rather than what was at stake.
Her first Flip listed good things that happened, rather than turning the Risk around. The line that did it was already in her story; she just hadn't spotted it.
Her first Takeaway was a slogan: "They're brilliant and bonkers." It's catchy, but it's Emma describing Emma.
After
In the live edit, we rebuilt it in the venue's voice. This is the line we landed on:
"Emma's company brought new audiences to three sellout shows, people who never knew we existed."
Put it next to where she started. "We make shows for theatres, public spaces and unexpected places" tells a programmer what Emma does. The new line tells them what happened to a venue like theirs, in the voice of someone they would believe.
When I asked whether she would use the draft on an enquiry call the next day, she said: "Yeah, I would."
What Emma noticed
As a successful writer, Emma had worked through story structures at length: context, problem, action, result. She put her finger on the difference straight away.
"You're putting the voice even more into that of the person you're selling to... that's what makes yours different."
Most story frameworks still make the business the hero. CRAFT hands the lines to the customer. Your business barely appears in the final sentence, and that is why people repeat it.
She also named the problem many creative and small businesses share: "There's a real disconnect between being an artist and being able to sell your art." You don't have to be an artist to recognise that.
Try it on your own business
Write down the sentence you use today to describe what you do. Then ask: would a customer ever say this to a friend? If the answer is no, the story your customers repeat is still waiting to be written.
That is what my 90-minute CRAFT workshop is for. You leave with a first draft of the line your customers will repeat, edited live with me. I'm setting the dates for the first open sessions now. If you'd like a place, or you'd like me to run it for your team, network or members, get in touch through storyofbusiness.co.uk and I'll let you know first.
With thanks to Emma Kelly of Wild Elk Productions (https://wildelkproductions.com/) for being the first to try it.