Episode 28: Attention CHRO and Onboarding Professionals!

Melissa Reaves
Well, welcome back, yeah mind movie makers. I'm Melissa, I'm your host, and we're gonna talk about the science to the art form of stellet of storytelling, but we really wanna talk about something that's near and dear to my heart today. So, this episode is especially welcoming the chief human resource officers, as well as those that are running the onboarding program for your new employees.

Let's talk about story library programs. Now, what do I mean when I say a story library? Well, every single one of us has our own personal story library. They're made up of our own experiences, of when we were the hero, when we were the zero, all of that. So I've talked about that quite a bit on this podcast. You are a walking, talking storybook, and when you're in an interview, for instance, and they ask you to tell them about something that you accomplished in your

last job you don't just talk about the project and and and the serial number that it had you actually talk about what you went through emotionally what what actions happened so that you could create a positive outcome that's a great story mark that down get that into your story library and know that you can be pulling these stories at any point in time but companies are made up of people

And people

Who are representing you also have stories. They have stories with each other, they have stories with the senior management, they have stories with customers. And so a story library program means that you're building a repository for all the stories that are really your core stories, the ones that you know people are gonna tell. Now, why am I passionate about this? Well, my entire sales career.

Melissa Reaves, Host (02:01.643)
And especially at the enterprise tech level, when I was in advertising technology, is where I saw the massive gap in this type of knowledge.

When I was in ad tech, I I stayed at one company for almost seven years. I was and at the startup stage to year seven practically. So I was a wealth of knowledge. I had so many experiences of going from a territory that had absolutely no billing to being the second highest territory right behind New York City, and I was representing Seattle, Denver, and San Francisco. That's it. And most of my business was coming out of Seattle and Denver because I was tapping business that no one had seen before.

Right there, small story, little bit of strategy in it. Can you imagine if a new rep comes in and hears this story? What do you think they're gonna feel? Like hope? Like, my gosh, I can do this. This seems like a daunting task. I said yes, they're gonna pay me to do it. Okay, a story like what I just told you, that quick little story, could be just what they need to make them feel like this is doable. Alright? So

The story libraries are super important and what do you want to have in it?

Well, obviously, customer success stories are key because your customer success stories are your legacy. That's where you are actually showing the world, not just telling the world, not just telling a vision story to get them to buy, but they've actually bought, they're experiencing you, and you've put a smile on their face. That's where you need to capture those stories and be able to put them in a place where anyone who's in sales or has a question about our relationship as a company to a particular

Melissa Reaves, Host (03:43.296)
Particular vertical that you have them captured. C suite, vision stories.

Okay? We need to know how are you going to drive this car down the road of success. And so your ability to take what we are now and then get us a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, and not just tell me the numbers that you plan to hit, but the vision, the feeling that we with you are going to experience because we all got us there together. Those are your vision stories. And you can use those in your boardroom meetings, your shareholder meetings.

meetings, obviously at any networking event that you have, and people ask you, you know, like what are you gonna be doing next year? You can answer that. That's a vision story. Do you think your sales and your support teams could know that? Yeah. And so you can use that in a town hall so that everyone gets it. Then it's recorded in the repository, everyone can read it, learn it, understand it, and represent it. Other stories. Your founder story.

The one that that started the company. Now, this is one where I think it's such a great story and when told well, it's exciting, it's fun. You if you can tell it well and do it in a mind movie kind of way where you get them to think like they were there back in nineteen seventy-six when those two brothers founded the company, that's what we want. But what do you normally see? Because there's no place for people to learn this story in most organizations,

You get something like this. You're like, yeah, yeah. Well we I know I know that we started in 1976 and it was a couple brothers. Yeah, and I think they were in California, might have been Oregon. No. No, it was California. Yeah, it was California. And they saw this problem. No, if someone's telling you a story like that, they have no clue. They're kind of faking to make it. Fake it to make it. would you stay engaged? No. But

Melissa Reaves, Host (05:46.839)
And I'm gonna wing this, but just for the point of a of a of an example, it's 1976, and John and Steve Johnson are finding out that the communication between a car salesman and the manufacturing agents. That sucks. Okay. Carl, cut that example out completely. I don't want to re-record. Okay.

So I was talking about

Founder stories. Okay. So here we go, we're gonna get back to it.

Another really important story to tell is your founder story. Everyone should know how this company was born, okay? And usually the founders have told someone, but no one captured it. And so if you don't tell the story properly, you're gonna get this as that answer. So tell me about your company. How did you guys start? well, I know it was like in 19 somewhere in the 70s, and there was like these two brothers, and they were living in California.

Ma was it Oregon? Maybe it was Cal no no no it was California. And they saw this problem.

Melissa Reaves, Host (07:02.892)
I'm gonna stop there because you're probably already bored, and there's no way that you would even want to listen to that story. Nor would you really feel like, wow, that that company's they've got it going on, because the rep is undertrained in a very, very important core story. But what if you train them on how to tell the story so that it's so vivid that when they hear it, they feel like they're there in 1976, sitting in the car with those two brothers who are noticing the problem? And then the two brothers.

brothers start talking to each other and it becomes engaging and now the audience is listening and they're thinking, wow, this is this is really I had no idea.

And they're just enjoying the communication that your representatives are giving. But we know that they put some work into it and that's why they're so good. And how do you think the competitors are gonna look when you're all fighting for the same proposal and their competitors are showing up with, I think it was two brothers, I don't know. But your people, they've got it dialed in, they know how to tell the story, and it's awesome. Okay, so customer success stories, vision stories, founder stories. And here's another

one. So HR people, I really want you to think about this. The people who are about to retire, or the ones that are just ready to move on and have put

you know, some years in. You want to capture their stories because as soon as they walk out the door, there goes their stories, there goes the knowledge, there goes your legacy if you don't capture them. And so finding out who they were as a leader, what was it like when they got to the company and what they see today and what vision are they hoping to leave with? All of those stories can be captured in an interview. And then you can take those stories that are captured

Melissa Reaves, Host (08:55.888)
And you can craft them. And in my book, I teach that you story mine, you find the stories, then you start to craft it so that it doesn't meander, that the characters are introduced, and that the listener really will again, once again, feel like they're right there in that time-space reality hearing the story.

So, why is having a story library so really important to an organization? Well, it is your legacy, but it's also your brand protection. You want to make sure that every single person is proud to be working for you, that's why they said yes, and that they extend that enthusiasm across every conversation that they have. So, capturing the stories could be your legacy.

Being the person that built the story library for your company. And then having a team that's there nurturing it, making sure that new stories are coming in. Don't underestimate the power of the customer success team. They're capturing the newest stories. So keeping them like, hey, what did customer X do when you sold them the new product? How is that going? Well, they go find the story, okay? So they can go and find those moments.

For the customer with your company and be able to capture it. Now you've got a new success story that's gonna have a new energy, and everyone will be diving in to learn that story. Because they can turn around and they can go to their prospects and say, you're not alone. We had the same situation with another customer, very similar to your business. Let me tell you about it. And then they move into this one-minute story. It doesn't even have to be long.

In fact, it shouldn't be long. But if it's told well and told concisely, it's a story that will blow the competition away. Because you built a story library program and you also created storytelling and infused it into the culture of your company. You infused storytelling into the culture of your company.

Melissa Reaves, Host (11:12.226)
That is lasting effect. So that's why I'm passionate about story library programs. Now, if you need help, yes, you can come to Story Fruition and we will help you with that.

We will train your people on how to tell a story so that it becomes a mind movie. But if you don't use story fruition and you're just using your own, you know, AI, just make sure you're using it. Capture it as a script. Make sure it's clean because you don't want your people lost. If they're lost and vague, you're going to squelch a deal that didn't have to be squelched. All right?

Every single one of us, as I say, is a walking-talking storybook. And we need to put them into a library so that we all thrive. We get up every day to do the work that we're doing. And when we realize, my gosh, I'm a part of this company's story now, it gives you a little more pep in the step, too. Okay? So

Thank you for listening, being open to this. I think it's imperative, I think it's paramount for a company to really be thinking about their story library programs. All right, until the next episode. Thank you, and I will be talking to you soon. Tell your stories and tell them well.