Telling stories sells business cases

After this declaration the company's CFO was frustrated. She felt that without ERP-driven business process changes their growing, global firm was in jeopardy. The CFO believed her ERP business case ROI analysis was superb; it had payoff calculations galore.

So what was missing? Primarily, a sure-fire way to communicate payoffs to a technophobic-chairman. In her haste the CFO forgot that good business stories, not reams of data, motivate reluctant people to action. Good storytelling captures minds, hearts, and imaginations.

To see good storytelling in action, watch highly successful business people. For example, Herb Kelleher, CEO of business phenomenon Southwest Airlines (and frequent business press cover guy), is rarely bested for using stories to inspire people to superior achievement. For a legendary example, check out Herb's "malice in Dallas" story.

Good business case writing and good storytelling have much in common: a problem to be solved, conflicts concerning which action to take, differing viewpoints among characters, and limits on time. Here are a few ideas for using good storytelling principles to strengthen your business case.

Stick to a single theme View your business case as a compelling nonfiction, short story. Write it with focus, brevity, and clarity. Tell it all in as few pages as possible. The most productive executive summaries run to about four pages. Put most of your data in an appendix. You should also build your business case story around one all-encompassing idea, not 15 disconnected minor ones.

The CFO above, for example, was advised by a business case consultant to focus on the theme of "regaining the firm's past greatness," an issue near to the chairman's heart. Every payoff area ultimately should have supported this main, overriding theme of "restoration." ERP data becomes a minor, supporting player, strictly a means by which the heroes (the decision-makers) can achieve the chairman's vision of restoring the firm's greatness.

Wrap the benefits in compelling stakeholder stories A good business storyteller can uncover key benefit opportunities by asking others for their stories. Most people like to tell stories even more than they like to listen to them.

Suppose, for example, you suspect that data-starved decisions are the cause of expensive field missteps. Ask the following story-inducing questions of your field people: What is your work life like? What do you like to do best? What are examples of your frustrations? And how could someone help you be more productive? Then distill these gems into vivid narratives that add clarity and credibility to benefit descriptions in your business case. A manager's anguished story about how the lethargic legacy system delayed a crucial reorganization by four months may pack more punch than all the ROI calculations combined.

Fine tune your ear Business stories are everywhere, but most of us don't think of them as crucial business case tools. Find these useful narratives by hanging out around the watercooler. Join some relevant, internally broadcast e-mail threads. Sit at the lunch tables where storytelling is popular. Read media interviews profiling your executives. This input will give you ideas for payoff opportunities as well as teach you what types of stories managers in your company prefer.

If executives' stories, for example, emphasize employees' heroic efforts, then people stories should be a high priority for your business case. If your management's tales focus on competitor pratfalls, then stories about battles to be won--or avoided--may be best.

Use vivid language and images Memorable text and pictures capture people's interest.

One business case storyteller I know mocked up a picture of his clients' faces on a fictitious cover of Fortune magazine, designed to extol their greatness. At the end of his talk he unexpectedly pulled out the drawing and exclaimed that this was the firm's opportunity. The previously sedate dinner meeting exploded in applause and cheers. Four days later he got the go-ahead for the enterprise knowledge database investment.

At their core, winning business cases are effective, well-presented short stories. Use the principles behind a great narrative to generate your own business-case bestseller. //

Jack M. Keen is founder and president of The Deciding Factor, a Basking Ridge, N.J.-based international consulting firm (http://www.decidingfactor.com) specializing in tools, best practices, and workshops for building better business cases faster. A frequent guest speaker, Keen has advised more than 100 organizations in 15 countries.

Have an interesting story about telling stories? Virtually whisper in my ear via e-mail to jkeen@decidingfactor.com.