Super U Podcast | Storytelling Tips with John Livesay

John Livesay, aka The Pitch Whisperer, is a sales keynote speaker where he shows companies’ sales teams how to turn mundane case studies into compelling case stories so they win more new business. From John’s award-winning career at Conde Nast, he shares the lessons he learned that turns sales teams into revenue rock stars. His TEDx talk: Be The Lifeguard of Your Own Life has over 1,000,000 views. John is the author of The Sale Is in the Tale which Erik wrote the foreword for!

5x #1 Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people this past decade. He was voted the 2nd Most Likable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling.

Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from the episode.

Storytelling Tips with John Livesay:

Episode Preview:

“Well, the good news is, it’s not like a gift you have to be born with, like, if you’re an opera singer or an athlete, and you think, Well, I don’t I’ll never be that. No. And then there are some people that say, you know, I think I tell pretty good stories. And I’m like, Well, let’s look at that. And then there’s a big aha moment. So the good news is, there’s a structure to it, and some basic templates that I put in the tail and the tail, so that people can follow it. And a little quick checklist. So let’s go over what a good story should have. And I have people write this down, typically. And then they go, oh, I have three questions. I have to ask myself whether the story works or not. Is it clear? Is it concise? And is it compelling? And the reason for those three things, Erik, is if it’s not clear and confusing, people say no, the confused mind goes, well, I don’t get this, I’m not going to work that hard to understand it. I’m out.

The concise element is, especially in the world of corporate sales for the meeting after the meeting. And most people don’t even think about that. All they do is they come in the pitch and hope for the best. But if you really put your empathy hat on and think about the people listening to these pitches, they have a meeting after all the pitch meetings, and they go well, who do you think we should pick for the speaker or equipment or whatever it is, and if you haven’t told a story, it all just blurs together. But if the story is too long, and they can’t remember it, they can’t repeat it in the meeting after the meeting. And that’s the real secret and then of course compelling because we all buy a month Emotionally, I don’t care what it is, and then back it up with logic. So without a good struggle or a conflict of some kind of challenge, there’s no emotion to it. And there’s really not a story there. So that’s the first thing is, let me look at the stories I’m telling. And are they those three things? And if one of them’s missing, I could make it better just by adding that in.”

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Connect with John Livesay:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlivesay

Instagram: @ThePitchWhisperer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.livesay

Subscribe to The Successful Pitch podcast with John Livesay.

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The Super U Podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.