Have you ever been in a social gathering where someone starts to tell a story and it goes nowhere? Perhaps they are interrupted early in the story and they never get their listener’s attention back. Or maybe they give so much detail and take so long to tell the story that the audience dwindles; those people who do stick around until the story’s bitter end do so either out of kindness or because they don’t know anyone else at the party. At such events it is likely you will have a lot of conversations and hear a few stories, so it is understandable to forget about someone’s mid-party flop.
Similarly, when the inability to tell a coherent and accurate story is the first thing you see on a company’s website, potential customers will run the other way. Unlike those sympathetic or kind few who will endure through a poorly told story at a party, on the web, no one sticks around to be polite.
That benign “Have you ever…?” story analogy underscored with its short, crystal clear message at the end is how Matt Silverman, author and writing consultant, helps prospects see the value of using professional editing services like his for their websites.
It is a technique you can use as well to promote the value of your services.
When Pictures are Not Enough
In addition to the success he has with “Have you ever…” with clients who have a business story to tell on a website, but who may not be great with words, Matt’s “Have you ever…?” approach works well with his other client base: people thinking of writing their memoirs. They sometimes ask, “Given how easy it is to capture just about any event on my cell phone, why would I consider a written memoir?”
Matt explains,
“Everyone has a story in them and it is very natural to want to share that story, whether it is with the world or just family.”
“And while a picture may be worth a thousand words, a picture alone does not tell the whole story.”
“Have you ever looked at a photo album from parents or grandparents or pictures online from a friend’s trip filled with images of people and different locations and events in their lives and wondered: How did they get there? What were they thinking? What happened before? After?”
“For example, I have an album, one that wound up in my hands after my father’s death a few 
years ago. It is forty or so pages of pictures of idyllic summers on the water, long ago—July 1921 to be exact; I know that because someone wrote that date on a photo. While I do recall enough from long ago stories to piece together that they were on the Thousand Islands straddling the New York border with Canada, that’s a lot of islands! (That’s his father in the picture.)Which one were they on? Why were they there? Who were they? Where did they come from to be together on an island between two countries?”
“That information with its real-time background drama–excitement? romance? despair? enjoyment? conflict? etc.–is missing from those pictures and is lost forever.”
“Whether it’s the 1920s or 2020s, pictures are only the starting point of a person’s story. The written word completes it.”
With his simple “Have you ever…?” Matt gets people to see the value in writing down their stories so that their loved ones will really understand where they came from, and who came before them. Not to mention the even greater challenge of telling stories of experiences where there are no pictures!
Matt concludes: “Let people curl up with the greatest book of all: Your story.”
Have You Ever…?
Familiar personal experiences are rich sources of analogies to help sell, persuade, or explain anything to anyone. The “Have you ever…?” question immediately evokes your listener’s visual and emotional memory. That recall and its associations then pave the way for them to see your point. What “Have you ever…?” analogies can you tap into in your world to get the results you seek?
Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay! – with Metaphors
P.S. For Websites, memoirs, or other writing ventures, Matt takes ideas and makes them easier to read so you get the results you seek. Find him at msilverman@usa.net or https://www.silvermanediting.com
Have You Ever Wanted to Wow an Audience with Your Presentation?
Call today and I will help you turn your information into an experience for listeners or buyers that will engage, persuade, and win you their business!
212-876-1875 amiller@annemiller.com
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