Episode 272

full
Published on:

20th Aug 2024

The Magic of Strategic Storytelling in Business - REPLAY - | RR272

Jeff Bartsch is an accomplished storyteller and marketing strategist, who built his reputation as a television editor in Hollywood, working with major media outlets.

Jeff and I had a wonderful conversation about the power of storytelling for your business.

We delve into Jeff’s expertise in the field of storytelling and explore how he has been able to leverage his skills and experience to help subject matter experts, entrepreneurs, and business owners tell their stories, serve more clients, and expand their impact in the world through Story Greenlight. Jeff even workshopped an email I did that was my first attempt at using his method to reach my audience. I learned a lot – and I know you will too.

Jeff has offered my audience free resources to help you in this area.

They can be found here: www.storygreenlight.com/relationship


In appreciation for being here, I have some gifts for you:

A LinkedIn Checklist for setting up your fully optimized Profile:

An opportunity to test drive the Follow Up system I recommend by taking the

3 Card Sampler – you won’t regret it.


AND … Don’t forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and be eligible for my

complimentary LinkedIn profile audit – I do one each month for a lucky

listener!


Connect with me:

http://JanicePorter.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiceporter/

https://www.facebook.com/janiceporter1

https://www.instagram.com/socjanice/


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Transcript
Janice Porter:

You're all up. Hello everyone, and welcome to

Janice Porter:

the relationships rule podcast. I am really excited about my

Janice Porter:

guest this week, Jeff barch. And Jeff is a visionary storyteller

Janice Porter:

and marketing strategist who founded story Greenlight with

Janice Porter:

over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry. Jeff

Janice Porter:

has worked with some of the largest media outlets in the

Janice Porter:

world, and has established himself as a leader in his field

Janice Porter:

through story green light. Jeff empowers experts and

Janice Porter:

professional advisors to tell their stories, expand their

Janice Porter:

impact and serve more clients. His book edit better Hollywood

Janice Porter:

tested strategies for powerful edit, video editing, and his

Janice Porter:

commentary on the entertainment industry in major publications

Janice Porter:

like Time Magazine and USA Today showcase Jeff's expertise and

Janice Porter:

commitment to human connection. And thank you first of all for

Janice Porter:

being here, Jeff. Welcome to the show.

Jeff Bartsch:

Glad to be here, looking forward to this jazz

Jeff Bartsch:

thank you so

Janice Porter:

much. So Jeff and I were introduced as he was

Janice Porter:

basically introduced to me by interview valet, one of the

Janice Porter:

companies that I really enjoy working with their clients. And

Janice Porter:

so I was going to say we met on LinkedIn, because that happens

Janice Porter:

so often for me, but that wasn't the case this time, full

Janice Porter:

disclosure, but I love Jeff's work. When I took a look at it,

Janice Porter:

I had a call with Jeff. I loved what he had to say, and we kind

Janice Porter:

of hit it off, I think, right away, in lots of ways. And it

Janice Porter:

all came down to rapport, building relationship,

Janice Porter:

connection, and all of the good things that I'm all about and I

Janice Porter:

love, and Jeff is an expert in this field, because he's been

Janice Porter:

doing it for so long. So what? Before we get into the real crux

Janice Porter:

of what you do now, Jeff, I want you to just tell me, you know,

Janice Porter:

through your work in television, because it's still pretty I'm

Janice Porter:

not sure I think you're, still doing it. I think, right? You're

Janice Porter:

still, yes,

Jeff Bartsch:

I do still do some, do some work for different

Jeff Bartsch:

entertainment networks.

Janice Porter:

Yes, right. And I think the most recent one was

Janice Porter:

doing some the story, back stories for the show American

Janice Porter:

Ninja. Is that American

Jeff Bartsch:

Ninja Warrior? That's true. Yes. So I'm

Janice Porter:

thinking, and I'm not sure if this is what you do,

Janice Porter:

but I want to just be what you do with them, because I want to

Janice Porter:

be clear that, you know, when they do the back stories on the

Janice Porter:

athletes that are about to perform, there's a story that's

Janice Porter:

built, you know, from what you've somebody has written it.

Janice Porter:

I don't know if or whether you've interviewed them, or you

Janice Porter:

just do the video, but you make it into an interesting story.

Janice Porter:

That's what you do, right?

Jeff Bartsch:

Among many other things, that's, that's what I

Jeff Bartsch:

happen to focus on when I'm working for American Ninja

Jeff Bartsch:

Warrior, right? And

Janice Porter:

I just wanted the clarity. There you go ahead,

Janice Porter:

sure, yeah,

Jeff Bartsch:

well, and the whole thing is, if you're

Jeff Bartsch:

familiar with the show, it's all about athletes, basically

Jeff Bartsch:

ordinary people, getting on this crazy obstacle course and

Jeff Bartsch:

seeing, can they overcome these physical obstacles? And the real

Jeff Bartsch:

power of the show, and the reason that it's been on the air

Jeff Bartsch:

for well, it's it's actually shot 15 seasons as of this

Jeff Bartsch:

recording. The reason that it's been so powerful, it's been so

Jeff Bartsch:

popular is because it shows physical obstacles, but it tells

Jeff Bartsch:

the stories of people overcoming obstacles in their own life, and

Jeff Bartsch:

it makes that connection between the two, and that's what the

Jeff Bartsch:

stories do, before you see the people get on that course. And I

Jeff Bartsch:

have, I've been working with the show for good grief almost 10

Jeff Bartsch:

years now, at different points throughout, throughout those

Jeff Bartsch:

years, telling literally hundreds of short form stories

Jeff Bartsch:

that make you care about that person, so you care what they do

Jeff Bartsch:

on the course. And that's what story does. It makes us care. It

Jeff Bartsch:

builds that human connection.

Janice Porter:

They do it in all these reality shows, American

Janice Porter:

Idol, the voice all of these shows, they do that with the

Janice Porter:

back stories, right? And you get you, you, you hook into those

Janice Porter:

people, and especially if they continue down the road, you get

Janice Porter:

more story and more story right to do it. So you have now

Janice Porter:

through story green light, and I'm not quite sure how long

Janice Porter:

you've had that company, but, but what you're doing now, which

Janice Porter:

I want to really get into here, is strategic storytelling,

Janice Porter:

basically, for business, right? In business, somehow? Yes. So

Janice Porter:

tell me what strategic storytelling

Jeff Bartsch:

is, sure. So here's the thing, when we are in

Jeff Bartsch:

business, we all want to succeed in business. And if we work in a

Jeff Bartsch:

business that works with people, there has to be at some point

Jeff Bartsch:

human connection in some way, yeah, and but it's really easy

Jeff Bartsch:

to communicate. In ways that don't that just kind of land

Jeff Bartsch:

flat, they don't build that communication. And when that

Jeff Bartsch:

happens, that means our network suffers, that means our business

Jeff Bartsch:

suffers, and our business could even die without that human

Jeff Bartsch:

communication. So that's why it's so incredibly important to

Jeff Bartsch:

communicate in a way that does elevate the ordinary to

Jeff Bartsch:

something more. It builds that human connection, and that's

Jeff Bartsch:

exactly what strategic storytelling does. Well, to

Janice Porter:

me, it's an art because I'm I struggle with it,

Janice Porter:

and I I listened to you. I'm going to learn from you, I

Janice Porter:

think, because I want to, and because I get it when I read

Janice Porter:

somebody's email or watch somebody's video on, you know,

Janice Porter:

on a post, on LinkedIn or on facebook or anything that does

Janice Porter:

have story, I notice it because it's it, it. I pay attention to

Janice Porter:

it because it's, it's, I guess it's talking to my heart,

Janice Porter:

because I'm heart centered, right? The other piece involved

Janice Porter:

in that for me, and I wanted to share that, because I think it's

Janice Porter:

important here, is like when we met for the first time. I'm

Janice Porter:

going to use this example. Maybe it's a story, I don't know.

Janice Porter:

Okay, so when you and I met on Zoom for the first time, I was

Janice Porter:

getting to know you. I'd looked at your LinkedIn profile. I was

Janice Porter:

feeling you out a little bit to try and get inside. You know who

Janice Porter:

you were, and, and I noticed, and, and I say this with love,

Janice Porter:

okay, I noticed you have really large hands, long hands. When we

Janice Porter:

were talking, we were talking, and I said, Okay, I'm going to

Janice Porter:

ask you, you're either a basketball player or you were

Janice Porter:

piano, a pianist, right? And I said, I have to ask you this.

Janice Porter:

I'm just curious, because that's where I come from. My curiosity,

Janice Porter:

and that's what I wanted to point out there. But maybe it's

Janice Porter:

this is telling a story in the sense that that I didn't realize

Janice Porter:

until, aha, the lights just gone on, because that story that I'm

Janice Porter:

just telling now and relaying to you again could be the basis for

Janice Porter:

teaching someone how to build rapport.

Jeff Bartsch:

Well, it, you know, it's interesting. It's

Jeff Bartsch:

really interesting that you noticed that, because not a lot

Jeff Bartsch:

of people, not a lot of people, pick that out. But the fact the

Jeff Bartsch:

matter is, the matter the fact the matter is, I have played

Jeff Bartsch:

piano, literally since almost my whole life. I started playing at

Jeff Bartsch:

the age of four. And if you, if you'll indulge me, in a moment,

Jeff Bartsch:

I there, there's, there's a way that this all ties together that

Jeff Bartsch:

and it actually started with piano playing. And something

Jeff Bartsch:

told me, I think, I think based on our previous conversation, I

Jeff Bartsch:

know that you have heard this story before, but I'll bet you

Jeff Bartsch:

your audience has, so the connection between this is when

Jeff Bartsch:

I actually it wasn't me spending 20 years in Hollywood that this

Jeff Bartsch:

really all started. It actually started when I was four years

Jeff Bartsch:

old learning to play the piano. And I don't know if anyone had

Jeff Bartsch:

really noticed that my hands were were large or whatever, but

Jeff Bartsch:

I hadn't hit my growth spread. I was long time before hitting my

Jeff Bartsch:

growth spread at that point. But mom heard me playing Old

Jeff Bartsch:

MacDonald had a farm on the piano, and she said, get this

Jeff Bartsch:

kid some lessons. And so that's how it started. But I was known

Jeff Bartsch:

as being Jeff the piano guy for about 20 years, my first 20

Jeff Bartsch:

years my life. And I really enjoyed playing. I kind of

Jeff Bartsch:

gravitated towards bak and Mozart because they, if you're

Jeff Bartsch:

for people who are familiar with classical music, Bach and Mozart

Jeff Bartsch:

are super technical and they're clean. You can just play the

Jeff Bartsch:

notes on the page. And that I was a very logical, okay, let's

Jeff Bartsch:

just play the notes on the page. Let's just do this and not worry

Jeff Bartsch:

about this squishy emotion stuff. Emotion is stupid, so at

Jeff Bartsch:

least that's what I thought at the time. And the more I learned

Jeff Bartsch:

about piano, the more frustrated I got about another area of my

Jeff Bartsch:

life, which was the fact that I grew up going to church every

Jeff Bartsch:

Sunday morning, every Sunday morning, and every time I went

Jeff Bartsch:

to church, every song we sang had five verses, and every verse

Jeff Bartsch:

of this of every verse of these songs were played the same every

Jeff Bartsch:

single time. And it just drove me absolutely nuts. Drove me

Jeff Bartsch:

nuts as a kid, and I'm in an elementary school, I'm going,

Jeff Bartsch:

please. I'm bored out of my mind. And there was actually a

Jeff Bartsch:

day when I was at the church, after hours, I was proudly

Jeff Bartsch:

playing one of my Mozart pieces, and this lady, who's one of the

Jeff Bartsch:

church musicians, she comes up to me and she says, you know,

Jeff Bartsch:

Jeff, it's all well and good to play the notes on the page, but

Jeff Bartsch:

when you get older, you need to learn to play from your soul.

Jeff Bartsch:

Mm. Now, I was in fourth grade, so I was maybe 11 years old at

Jeff Bartsch:

that point, and I at that point, I wasn't about to say this out

Jeff Bartsch:

loud, but I thought that was the stupidest thing ever play from

Jeff Bartsch:

your soul. What I got, I got the notes on the page, I'm good, and

Jeff Bartsch:

there was no specific moment when I realized that she was

Jeff Bartsch:

right, because the fact the matter was, I was doing my best,

Jeff Bartsch:

but I really was missing that next level of where the truly

Jeff Bartsch:

powerful stuff happens. And I only discovered that over years

Jeff Bartsch:

of people's reactions that they went from people saying, Hey,

Jeff Bartsch:

Jeff, you're a really great piano player. I'm like, sweet,

Jeff Bartsch:

I'm amazing, I'm great, you know. And it went to Jeff, thank

Jeff Bartsch:

you for the way you played that piece. You really made that

Jeff Bartsch:

piece come to life in a new way for me, I thought, Whoa, this

Jeff Bartsch:

isn't just about me playing the piano. There's something else

Jeff Bartsch:

going on here. And every once in a while, every once in a while,

Jeff Bartsch:

there's someone who said, Jeff, the way you played that piece

Jeff Bartsch:

brought me into an encounter with God today. Thank you so

Jeff Bartsch:

much. Thank you. Thank you. And that kind of idea of taking the

Jeff Bartsch:

ordinary and not just playing the notes on the page and

Jeff Bartsch:

elevating it to something that connects, truly connects with

Jeff Bartsch:

people. That's what that's really the core of what I've

Jeff Bartsch:

been doing my whole life. And it's shown up a whole bunch of

Jeff Bartsch:

different ways. It showed up with me learning about video

Jeff Bartsch:

production in high school when it was still really hard to do

Jeff Bartsch:

that. You couldn't just pick up your phone. You had to get this

Jeff Bartsch:

great big camera and edit with all the fancy machines. I went

Jeff Bartsch:

into radio and college. I'd gone to film school, and then I did

Jeff Bartsch:

the 20 years shaping content for ABC and NBC and universal and

Jeff Bartsch:

Disney and apple and all these folks. So the thing that I was

Jeff Bartsch:

learning and the thing that I really want to really. Thing I

Jeff Bartsch:

want to really bring out here in our conversation is that it's

Jeff Bartsch:

really easy to just play the notes on the page, and we are,

Jeff Bartsch:

you know, we're all doing the best that we can, and yet, if we

Jeff Bartsch:

only play the notes on the page, if we only do the general basic

Jeff Bartsch:

areas of communication, we're missing that Lex, that next

Jeff Bartsch:

level of communication, of true human connection, where all the

Jeff Bartsch:

powerful things happens, and it happens in any medium, but when

Jeff Bartsch:

we stand out, when we elevate our message, when we use

Jeff Bartsch:

something like strategic storytelling, incredible things

Jeff Bartsch:

happen and It is available to any of us.

Janice Porter:

Is it a muscle, though, that we have to tweak,

Janice Porter:

or because I think it's a learned skill, I think it's a

Janice Porter:

skill that we don't all have, and we have to learn it if we

Janice Porter:

want to, right? And I agree with you that I think it can elevate

Janice Porter:

so I'm not a writer. I'd rather talk, but talking, I think you

Janice Porter:

the same thing applies, right in that 100% our good story to to

Janice Porter:

illustrate a point, people remember it better than the five

Janice Porter:

steps to do it are, Yeah, so, so that's okay. So, so you, um, so

Janice Porter:

I, I don't know, I had a aha moment after talking to you, and

Janice Porter:

just recently saw an instance of an a little experience with my

Janice Porter:

granddaughter that I turned into an email to my list, and so I

Janice Porter:

was very nervous about doing it one because if my daughter knew

Janice Porter:

I'd put her picture, my granddaughter's picture in the

Janice Porter:

email, I would be in trouble. But I took a risk, because it

Janice Porter:

wasn't on Facebook or it LinkedIn, it was in a private

Janice Porter:

email. So who

Jeff Bartsch:

better hope your daughter doesn't listen to your

Jeff Bartsch:

podcast. Yeah, well,

Janice Porter:

okay, so then I crafted this story and attached

Janice Porter:

it to a lesson in business, and you actually saw it. And I was

Janice Porter:

just thrilled that you comment, that you wrote back to me and

Janice Porter:

said you paid attention and saw that it worked, and you gave me

Janice Porter:

a couple of pointers around it, but those things don't come to

Janice Porter:

me very often, you know, like, I guess I illustrated the story

Janice Porter:

part in a descriptive way, and then I wanted to make this point

Janice Porter:

about Business and about being in the moment, and about going,

Janice Porter:

if you if you're in the moment, sometimes you're going to learn

Janice Porter:

something that you never thought you would learn because you

Janice Porter:

didn't give yourself that opportunity to do so. So that

Janice Porter:

was kind of the message. And you made a comment about if I had

Janice Porter:

done something more in the business lesson part. It would

Janice Porter:

have been more evocative. I love that word. I don't know it would

Janice Porter:

have evoked more feeling right in the reader or the Yeah, in

Janice Porter:

the reader. So can you talk to me about that? Because I think

Janice Porter:

it will illustrate a point. Sure.

Jeff Bartsch:

So let's, before going into this specific let's

Jeff Bartsch:

rewind a little bit, and let's talk a little bit about, you

Jeff Bartsch:

know, let's, let's go a little inside baseball on the story

Jeff Bartsch:

that I just told about playing piano. So one of the things

Jeff Bartsch:

that, one of the things that you have to realize is that

Jeff Bartsch:

storytelling can feel very familiar. And it's easy for

Jeff Bartsch:

people to say, Okay, I'm just gonna, oh yeah, that I stand at

Jeff Bartsch:

the water cooler and talk to people. You know, post covid, we

Jeff Bartsch:

had water coolers and all that. And pre covid, oh, right, pre

Jeff Bartsch:

covid. And, you know, it's, it feels very familiar. But I just

Jeff Bartsch:

want, want to be very clear, there is an everyday, kind of

Jeff Bartsch:

blase just kind of, I'll just randomly throw it out, drop a

Jeff Bartsch:

story nugget here or there, and then there is strategic

Jeff Bartsch:

storytelling. And that's what I define as storytelling on

Jeff Bartsch:

purpose for a specific goal. And that's a very you know that

Jeff Bartsch:

covers a lot of ground, but in the case of something like what

Jeff Bartsch:

we're talking about here, so just conversation you if the

Jeff Bartsch:

goal is to say, I want the audience, I want Janice's

Jeff Bartsch:

audience to get to know a little bit more about Jeff, about Me,

Jeff Bartsch:

and how I, you know, where I come from, where what makes me

Jeff Bartsch:

tick, and where all this story stuff came from. So, okay, so

Jeff Bartsch:

that that's the goal. So that's what I'm driving towards with

Jeff Bartsch:

all of this. And so I'm, I'm thinking about, what is the,

Jeff Bartsch:

what is the correlation between something that I've experienced

Jeff Bartsch:

in my own life that might have parallels with what you and your

Jeff Bartsch:

audience have experienced. So I picked the idea of this lady

Jeff Bartsch:

telling me, Jeff, you got to play from your soul. And I

Jeff Bartsch:

thought that was just pretty dumb. Of course, I was because

Jeff Bartsch:

guys in elementary school and and it was the idea of, I was

Jeff Bartsch:

playing the notes on the page. I was doing the best I could, but

Jeff Bartsch:

I didn't know there was another level. That's, that's the

Jeff Bartsch:

message right there. So that's, that's, that's the starting

Jeff Bartsch:

point. Then I started, I had a framework in mind, and it was

Jeff Bartsch:

based around before twist and after. This is based around

Jeff Bartsch:

something called the stellar storytelling framework, taught

Jeff Bartsch:

by a lady researcher and an author by the name of Kendra

Jeff Bartsch:

Hall. She's fantastic. So the idea of before twist and after.

Jeff Bartsch:

And so before I was talking about I was learning how to play

Jeff Bartsch:

the piano. I thought I was really great. And everyone told

Jeff Bartsch:

me I was really great. Then there was a moment, one specific

Jeff Bartsch:

moment, where the lady says, Yeah, you're missing the next

Jeff Bartsch:

level Jeff. And I didn't agree. And then it was the the after

Jeff Bartsch:

was me eventually learning that the lady was right. And then

Jeff Bartsch:

after that, you connect that to whatever you want, and you

Jeff Bartsch:

connect that to to the lesson that you want the audience to

Jeff Bartsch:

know. And through that process, when you do that, and you

Jeff Bartsch:

include very specific elements, you include one specific

Jeff Bartsch:

character. You include one specific moment. You include

Jeff Bartsch:

actual details. You talk about, hey, I was playing block and

Jeff Bartsch:

Mozart because they were super clean and technical. I could do

Jeff Bartsch:

that. Didn't have to worry about all that other mushy emotion

Jeff Bartsch:

stuff. And then you talk about a genuine human emotion. And this

Jeff Bartsch:

doesn't have to be ugly crying or feelings of Rapture. It can

Jeff Bartsch:

just be me looking at an elderly lady thinking that she's done

Jeff Bartsch:

Dick, or that you don't know what you're talking about, but

Jeff Bartsch:

really I was the one who was clueless kind of a thing. And

Jeff Bartsch:

and then you also add in the L, you add in the emotion from the

Jeff Bartsch:

people who eventually they were experiencing what I was doing,

Jeff Bartsch:

and that's how I learned, yes, so you have those elements, and

Jeff Bartsch:

if you're looking at that, and if you're looking at that, and

Jeff Bartsch:

you're saying, well, that's a lot of stuff, well, if this is

Jeff Bartsch:

the first time, if this is the first time that That one is

Jeff Bartsch:

engaging with the concept of strategic storytelling. It can

Jeff Bartsch:

seem like a lot, but I promise you, we all do this all the

Jeff Bartsch:

time, and sometimes we stumble into genius, and everyone says,

Jeff Bartsch:

oh, that's an incredible story. Most of the times, it has all

Jeff Bartsch:

that stuff that I just talked about, okay, but it is. 100% a

Jeff Bartsch:

skill. It can be learned if you are a human being, if you are

Jeff Bartsch:

alive and you have a pulse, you can do this. You can do this.

Jeff Bartsch:

You can learn this. So to apply this to your story about your

Jeff Bartsch:

granddaughter, can you just restate, restate the story as

Jeff Bartsch:

you initially told it in your email. Yeah, basically,

Janice Porter:

we took my granddaughter down to the local

Janice Porter:

park to play at the playground there. But before we got to the

Janice Porter:

playground, there was this huge pile of sand that the gardeners,

Janice Porter:

I guess, had dumped in the parking lot that they were going

Janice Porter:

to use on the grass field. Well, she saw, she took one look at

Janice Porter:

that, that pile of sand, and she was up it before I could count

Janice Porter:

to 10, right? This is amazing. Oh yeah. She was in her glory.

Janice Porter:

Loves to get dirty, loves to play in the sand and everything.

Janice Porter:

So that was where she spent the next, you know, 15 minutes

Janice Porter:

before we could get her over to the swings, and by that time,

Janice Porter:

she was a mess, right? So that was the story, yeah, but, but to

Janice Porter:

see her just be in the moment really was, you know, kids are

Janice Porter:

in the moment. She's three years, eight months, you know,

Janice Porter:

she's just whatever's in front of her right, and it was

Janice Porter:

delightful.

Jeff Bartsch:

So then you attach that, you attach that to an idea

Jeff Bartsch:

for your audience, correct

Janice Porter:

around how and my goal was that I had a my monthly

Janice Porter:

LinkedIn training group class, which I hold once a month, like

Janice Porter:

a mastermind or a drop in, you know, office hours type of

Janice Porter:

thing, bring your questions. And the goal was to try and

Janice Porter:

encourage more people to come to that. And so the idea was, if

Janice Porter:

you can, you know, you thought you you know, at the last

Janice Porter:

minute, maybe you're free and you can come. So the idea was,

Janice Porter:

you know, you never know what you might learn if you just are

Janice Porter:

just do something out of the ordinary, or, you know, in the

Janice Porter:

moment. And that was kind of the connection, okay, in front of

Janice Porter:

me. So I can't remember exactly what I said, but that's the

Janice Porter:

idea. Okay, so

Jeff Bartsch:

then, yeah, so my, so, my, my reaction to that was,

Jeff Bartsch:

this is super cool. I love that you're doing this, and it's

Jeff Bartsch:

super relatable, because kids are awesome. Kids are fantastic.

Jeff Bartsch:

And they, you know, they, they have this purity of experiencing

Jeff Bartsch:

the world that we can all benefit from. And so I and so

Jeff Bartsch:

what I'd said was, if you had the opportunity to focus more on

Jeff Bartsch:

the emotion involved in that story, you could you could have

Jeff Bartsch:

that kind of, you could have that kind of. You could have

Jeff Bartsch:

that potential for that emotion to connect more specifically

Jeff Bartsch:

with your audience. So how to put more emotion into a story

Jeff Bartsch:

like that? First, when you you have to understand that the

Jeff Bartsch:

whole point of this is to get the audience to pay attention.

Jeff Bartsch:

You have to. You want to do everything possible to get their

Jeff Bartsch:

their very clear and focused attention. And the very best way

Jeff Bartsch:

to do that is to not go broad. You go super narrow. So when you

Jeff Bartsch:

do that, that's why you focus on one character, one moment. Get

Jeff Bartsch:

details about that again, get details about what was happening

Jeff Bartsch:

and and that sort of a thing, and you have, and you need to

Jeff Bartsch:

include genuine emotion of some kind. So were we to, were we to

Jeff Bartsch:

sit down for an ex, for for period, and say, Okay, how can

Jeff Bartsch:

we craft this story? You would say, Okay, how, how were we

Jeff Bartsch:

feeling? How are you feeling after? How are you feeling

Jeff Bartsch:

before? And if you were feeling, if you were feeling kind of

Jeff Bartsch:

frustrated or hurried, or something like that, and if, for

Jeff Bartsch:

instance, you had a moment where, where your your

Jeff Bartsch:

granddaughter, got up in that pile of sand, and you were

Jeff Bartsch:

feeling frustration, that's something that could be, that's

Jeff Bartsch:

something that could be your Before state in the story. And

Jeff Bartsch:

you know what, even if you weren't completely annoyed, if

Jeff Bartsch:

you wanted to craft the story and say it's like, he's like,

Jeff Bartsch:

Well, hey, well, sweetheart, you wanted to, you wanted to get,

Jeff Bartsch:

you wanted to get over to the swings. Why are you climbing up

Jeff Bartsch:

on the sand right now? Kind of a thing. So it could be some kind

Jeff Bartsch:

of a, what, what's going on here? What? What's, you know.

Jeff Bartsch:

Know, question mark of some kind, then you have the moment

Jeff Bartsch:

where she's up there on the on the hill, and she's having a

Jeff Bartsch:

blast, and that is the catalyst for you to learn in that moment.

Jeff Bartsch:

Know, What? What? Why am I so worried about this? Why? If she

Jeff Bartsch:

changes her mind if she wants to be in the moment. That's really

Jeff Bartsch:

cool and and so that that contrast between you before you

Jeff Bartsch:

go through the moment, and then that moment is the catalyst for

Jeff Bartsch:

you to learn. And it's that it brings the internal change. If

Jeff Bartsch:

you want to talk about a little bit about film a tiny, tiny

Jeff Bartsch:

little bit of film school snobbery here, snobbery,

Jeff Bartsch:

geekery, film school can get super, super down in the weeds.

Jeff Bartsch:

90% of it does not apply to us. But something that I will say is

Jeff Bartsch:

the entire point of story is change. When people ask what a

Jeff Bartsch:

story is, I always say a story is a is where a character wants

Jeff Bartsch:

something, overcomes obstacles to get it, and experiences

Jeff Bartsch:

transformation as a result. The entire point of story is to show

Jeff Bartsch:

change. And there are two main kinds of change that you'll hear

Jeff Bartsch:

screenwriters talk about. You'll hear about external change,

Jeff Bartsch:

change that happens around us, outside us, and that's stuff

Jeff Bartsch:

that's usually it's super easy to talk about or describe

Jeff Bartsch:

because it's visual. The flip side to that is your audience is

Jeff Bartsch:

not going to get much emotional connection to that. However, the

Jeff Bartsch:

stuff that happens on the inside internal change, that's where

Jeff Bartsch:

the good stuff is. That's where the meat of everything, of

Jeff Bartsch:

connecting all these emotions, it all happens inside our hearts

Jeff Bartsch:

and minds. The flip side to that is it all happens inside us. So

Jeff Bartsch:

it's, it's not like you're watching Star Wars and you see

Jeff Bartsch:

the Death Star blow up, boom, it's gone. Kind of a thing. So

Jeff Bartsch:

it really focuses on the change, the change of mind, the change

Jeff Bartsch:

of heart and the change of emotion. So that in broad

Jeff Bartsch:

strokes, is how I would talk about how to add, how to add

Jeff Bartsch:

human connection to any strategically crafted story is

Jeff Bartsch:

to really drill into that change of emotion.

Janice Porter:

So in telling that story part about my

Janice Porter:

granddaughter on the pile of sand. I did some of that, and

Janice Porter:

you did about bringing more emotion into the business piece

Janice Porter:

that I related it to, and that's where I think I got stuck.

Jeff Bartsch:

Okay, so do something

Janice Porter:

when you can't see it in front of you at the

Janice Porter:

moment or anything, but you know, just if you recall it all

Janice Porter:

but

Jeff Bartsch:

all good. That's we're we're a workshop in real

Jeff Bartsch:

time out on the tightrope. I dig it. So when we talk about

Jeff Bartsch:

storytelling, one of the main functions of storytelling is of

Jeff Bartsch:

strategic storytelling is to create connections. This

Jeff Bartsch:

parallels this. This is like this. This compares to that. So

Jeff Bartsch:

I want to actually challenge what you're talking about a

Jeff Bartsch:

little bit based on your something you said earlier, you

Jeff Bartsch:

said something about you want to get people to join your monthly

Jeff Bartsch:

your monthly meeting for your monthly LinkedIn training. What

Jeff Bartsch:

is the mental or emotional state of the person who is or isn't

Jeff Bartsch:

thinking about joining that meeting?

Janice Porter:

Well, it could be one of many things depending on,

Janice Porter:

right, like, if they haven't, if they they haven't planned it for

Janice Porter:

next month, you know, and put it on their calendar. It could be

Janice Porter:

many things. Because the whole point is that this was, you

Janice Porter:

know, Monday of the Friday when that meeting was, it was

Janice Porter:

happening. So it was like that last week of a push to say, hey,

Janice Porter:

if you're not doing anything, maybe it was Tuesday, I don't

Janice Porter:

know, but it was close enough to say, you know, switch gears if

Janice Porter:

you're not doing anything now, or something's falling through

Janice Porter:

and you now have the time. So you don't know what their

Janice Porter:

emotion is, but you might, and you might, you might hit

Janice Porter:

somebody just at the right time where they're saying, You know

Janice Porter:

what? Maybe I'll go this, I don't have anything on Friday.

Janice Porter:

Maybe I'll, maybe I'll go this month and see what, what it's

Janice Porter:

like. So I don't know how to so okay,

Jeff Bartsch:

and that that's, that's 100% legit. And the

Jeff Bartsch:

reason I ask is the point. Point of the story needs to directly

Jeff Bartsch:

correspond with the goal of the of what you're wanting the

Jeff Bartsch:

people to do. So if the people are saying, my life is booked up

Jeff Bartsch:

and I'm feeling like I'm in a rut or, you know what, maybe I

Jeff Bartsch:

just need to live in the moment. Maybe I just need to be in the

Jeff Bartsch:

moment. Okay, you know what? I'm gonna clear off my schedule and

Jeff Bartsch:

I'm gonna go to this LinkedIn training with Janice then that

Jeff Bartsch:

that that's something that could, that that's something

Jeff Bartsch:

that that that comparison could be made, and you could actually,

Jeff Bartsch:

you could actually craft that together. Would refer to

Janice Porter:

the sand, the sand pile story in that second

Janice Porter:

half, in a way, like to bring it together.

Jeff Bartsch:

The goal in crafting that would be to

Jeff Bartsch:

connect the message of the story, yes, with the message of

Jeff Bartsch:

you're wanting to get people to do something. Okay? So if the,

Jeff Bartsch:

if your overall, if your overall message at the end was going to

Jeff Bartsch:

was going to be saying, Okay, I want people to get, I want

Jeff Bartsch:

people to come to this LinkedIn training. If you are feeling,

Jeff Bartsch:

you know what? What's, what's a specific reason that people say

Jeff Bartsch:

that they show up to these trainings, in your experience,

Janice Porter:

that they've done the training, they've done

Janice Porter:

LinkedIn training with me, and they're not really using

Janice Porter:

LinkedIn as much as they would like to be, or they want to know

Janice Porter:

more about LinkedIn, and they haven't done training with me,

Janice Porter:

so they want to see, you know what I'm about.

Jeff Bartsch:

Okay, so that is where, instead of telling a

Jeff Bartsch:

story about living in a moment, about kids living in a moment,

Jeff Bartsch:

that's where you would tell a story about I did. I was working

Jeff Bartsch:

on something, but I didn't quite get it. I was working on, I I

Jeff Bartsch:

was, you know, it's, that's the kind of story where you might

Jeff Bartsch:

talk about driving a stick shift car that had five speeds, and

Jeff Bartsch:

you're driving it in first gear the whole time, and you just

Jeff Bartsch:

didn't know how to access the power that was already there all

Jeff Bartsch:

the time. It's the, it's the whole idea of Dorothy wearing

Jeff Bartsch:

the red slippers in The Wizard of Oz, she had the power all

Jeff Bartsch:

along. She just didn't know how to use it. That's why you need

Jeff Bartsch:

to come to this training with Janice, because she knows how to

Jeff Bartsch:

help you unlock that power that you've already had.

Janice Porter:

Okay, so, so if I'm getting this right, that one

Janice Porter:

aspect of learning how to tell stories in relation to business,

Janice Porter:

and relate them to business. Really think about the result

Janice Porter:

I'm looking for in the business piece

Jeff Bartsch:

first and then backwards, backwards,

Janice Porter:

because the story might come to me. That's

Janice Porter:

something I've experienced in something else in life that

Janice Porter:

could relate. Don't start, start with the end in mind.

Jeff Bartsch:

Okay, now, yeah, that's because, because I'm

Jeff Bartsch:

sitting here thinking about, okay, what are ways that we can

Jeff Bartsch:

make that What are ways that we can wait make that idea of live

Jeff Bartsch:

in the moment work for showing up? So live. She's living in the

Jeff Bartsch:

moment. So you need to live in the moment. So let's show up in

Jeff Bartsch:

the LinkedIn training. But that's where I see, to me,

Jeff Bartsch:

that's where I feel there's a bit of a disconnect in terms of

Jeff Bartsch:

the overall impact. But that's why, that's why it's so this

Jeff Bartsch:

stuff is so cool because we always get another shot. It's so

Jeff Bartsch:

rare that we don't get another shot stuff like this.

Janice Porter:

Yeah, so again, it's it's practice and it's

Janice Porter:

awareness first, then practice. Okay, so you, do you teach? Do

Janice Porter:

you teach? Like, courses on how to do this. Like, do you?

Janice Porter:

Because I would think that it's getting into people's minds and

Janice Porter:

trying to train them to think differently, which is kind of

Janice Porter:

fascinating. I like the idea,

Jeff Bartsch:

yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely.

Janice Porter:

So weaving story into the fabric of business, a

Janice Porter:

guide to integrating story into your brand. That's one of the

Janice Porter:

bullets that was on your one sheet, your speaker sheet,

Janice Porter:

weaving story into the fabric of business, a guide to integrating

Janice Porter:

story into your brand. Do you teach this? Is this what you do

Janice Porter:

with green story green light?

Jeff Bartsch:

Tell me that is. That is what I'll tell you. The

Jeff Bartsch:

things that story green light has offered have changed over

Jeff Bartsch:

the years as the market for who story green light serves has

Jeff Bartsch:

changed, okay, so that the but it's becoming more and more

Jeff Bartsch:

clear that this is this really is the core of of how this. Can

Jeff Bartsch:

really be helpful for a lot of people, because this is so

Jeff Bartsch:

powerful. It is so incredibly powerful, and it is so within

Jeff Bartsch:

reach of anyone. It's it just takes, it just takes some

Jeff Bartsch:

guidance.

Janice Porter:

Okay, so, so I have to ask you this, though,

Janice Porter:

because there's so much noise out there. And by noise, I mean

Janice Porter:

emails in my inbox every day. And, you know, another new

Janice Porter:

podcast in the works for somebody, and blogs and and

Janice Porter:

YouTube and like, we're just inundated with stuff. So, so you

Janice Porter:

have to do something to stand out from the crowd, and your

Janice Porter:

idea that story, story driven marketing pieces are the way to

Janice Porter:

go correct

Jeff Bartsch:

that is, that is definitely a way to that is that

Jeff Bartsch:

is an important part that must be present. Now I will say, I'm

Jeff Bartsch:

not gonna, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that all you

Jeff Bartsch:

have to do is tell stories and your business is guaranteed,

Jeff Bartsch:

guaranteed to succeed. Because clearly, just because you have

Jeff Bartsch:

gas, just because you have great, great quality gas in a

Jeff Bartsch:

car, doesn't mean that all the systems of the car are working

Jeff Bartsch:

the way they need to. You have to have everything working

Jeff Bartsch:

right. Having said that, I would say that strategic storytelling

Jeff Bartsch:

is like having it's like going from the really cheap, low

Jeff Bartsch:

quality gas and replacing it with jet fuel in your car in a

Jeff Bartsch:

way that doesn't blow up your engine. But, you know, just go

Jeff Bartsch:

with me here, you know, yeah, and so when you're talking about

Jeff Bartsch:

messagings and standing out there will always have to be a

Jeff Bartsch:

balance between the the questions that your audience is

Jeff Bartsch:

asking. So the idea of number one, should I even listen to

Jeff Bartsch:

this person? Do I care? And then the next question is, okay, if

Jeff Bartsch:

I'm willing to listen, then do they know what they're talking

Jeff Bartsch:

about? So clearly, a successful business has to have an area of

Jeff Bartsch:

expertise, or some or some kind of a product or service that

Jeff Bartsch:

specifically solves the problem, that kind of a thing for which

Jeff Bartsch:

people are willing to trade money and all that kind of

Jeff Bartsch:

thing. So there's the balance between, should I care? Should I

Jeff Bartsch:

listen? Do they know what they're talking about? And then,

Jeff Bartsch:

okay, what's the next steps? To work forward, to move forward,

Jeff Bartsch:

to work with you, to buy your product or service, right? But

Jeff Bartsch:

if people don't care, that's a problem, yeah, and, and so I

Jeff Bartsch:

will say just as a specific example, because my email inbox

Jeff Bartsch:

is as clogged as anyone else's, you know, in these days. And I

Jeff Bartsch:

will tell you, there are some people who write emails and I

Jeff Bartsch:

know their sales emails. I get hundreds of sales emails in my

Jeff Bartsch:

email box, but there are some that I still open them up

Jeff Bartsch:

anyway, because I know this guy tells stories, this guy, this

Jeff Bartsch:

gal, says stuff that's fun and entertaining or thought

Jeff Bartsch:

provoking. And so when you become known for someone who

Jeff Bartsch:

provides that kind of value, that is a that is a huge step

Jeff Bartsch:

forward to getting people's attention to say, Hey, I'm here.

Jeff Bartsch:

I have something that can really benefit you. Let's talk about

Jeff Bartsch:

this. Let's keep the conversation going. Yeah,

Janice Porter:

you can definitely tell when somebody

Janice Porter:

has put some thought behind what they're writing, for sure, those

Janice Porter:

that do, you can see, you can definitely see it. Well, we

Janice Porter:

could go on forever. And I, because I'm fascinated by the

Janice Porter:

work that you do and the passion that you have for it, that's

Janice Porter:

what I love as well. And I think that's for me. It's all about

Janice Porter:

that. It's, you know, it's, it's, I have to feel a

Janice Porter:

connection with somebody. Now you're saying the storytelling

Janice Porter:

is going to give that, bring that connection to the right

Janice Porter:

people. And I see that, but I like to see the whites of your

Janice Porter:

eyes, and I like to, you know, so it, the stories come out in

Janice Porter:

podcasts, they come out in blog posts, they come out in in

Janice Porter:

emails. You have to find what works for you. One last

Janice Porter:

question, and then, then I'm going to ask you to tell my

Janice Porter:

audience where they can find you sure my last question is a two

Janice Porter:

part question, and I feel the need to ask you this. I ask most

Janice Porter:

of my guests on the show this question, but I'm curious to

Janice Porter:

know what you will say, and it's about curiosity, because that's

Janice Porter:

my favorite word. So the two part question is number one, do

Janice Porter:

you believe curiosity is innate or learned. And part two, what

Janice Porter:

are you most curious about these days?

Jeff Bartsch:

Well, to answer this, you have to know that

Jeff Bartsch:

you're talking to the guy where my dad, to this day, will tell

Jeff Bartsch:

about the moment when I was born. No Joe. Look the moment I

Jeff Bartsch:

was born and put on my mom's tummy, and the first thing I did

Jeff Bartsch:

was I just started looking around, looking, looking,

Jeff Bartsch:

looking, and they started calling me curious Jeff. And

Jeff Bartsch:

I've been called curious Jeff by my parents pretty much my whole

Jeff Bartsch:

life. So that's where I'm coming from. I have always been

Jeff Bartsch:

curious. I do believe that curiosity is more innate

Unknown:

than not.

Jeff Bartsch:

And the reason is, if you look at kids, they are

Jeff Bartsch:

the most curious folks you're ever going to find. And I find,

Jeff Bartsch:

you know, my personal theory with this is that the farther

Jeff Bartsch:

along in life we get, the easier it is to think, Okay, I got this

Jeff Bartsch:

figured out. I don't have to keep searching, I don't have to

Jeff Bartsch:

keep wondering. And I think that's when we start dying,

Janice Porter:

is when we stop learning. So

Jeff Bartsch:

I think there, there, there's a balance between

Jeff Bartsch:

that. I believe that we all begin with it. And I think the

Jeff Bartsch:

older we get, the farther along in life we get, the more

Jeff Bartsch:

important it is that we continue to cultivate that. And for

Jeff Bartsch:

myself, I'm I'm curious about people. I'm curious about the

Jeff Bartsch:

world. I'm curious about how people see the world, especially

Jeff Bartsch:

how people see the world differently than I do, because

Jeff Bartsch:

it it is so easy to be looking through our own eyes at the

Jeff Bartsch:

world, and to say, this is how the world is, when all of a

Jeff Bartsch:

sudden, when you hear the stories from other people about

Jeff Bartsch:

this is how I experience the world, and you say, Whoa, that

Jeff Bartsch:

is completely different from my life experience. How is that?

Jeff Bartsch:

That that's the kind of stuff I mean that that I I could keep

Jeff Bartsch:

listening to that stuff and thinking about it for a long

Jeff Bartsch:

time.

Janice Porter:

That's good, though, that's really good. So

Janice Porter:

do you read biographies of people or listen to biographies

Janice Porter:

of people?

Jeff Bartsch:

I do some biographies. I'm a big, big non

Jeff Bartsch:

fiction audiobook guy. I'm listening to lots of podcasts. I

Jeff Bartsch:

listen to lots of audio books, human psychology, sociology,

Jeff Bartsch:

business, marketing, sales, all that kind of stuff, mixing it

Jeff Bartsch:

all together, and say, Okay, how, what? What parts can I take

Jeff Bartsch:

from this, and how can I put this into my understanding and

Jeff Bartsch:

of the world? And how can I offer that? How can I package

Jeff Bartsch:

that off into something that's valuable for the people that I

Jeff Bartsch:

serve? Fantastic.

Janice Porter:

Well, I see one question for me leads to

Janice Porter:

another, to another, and I promise that was my last

Janice Porter:

question before So, and we should wrap up, because this has

Janice Porter:

been a long episode, so, but, but a good episode. So I

Janice Porter:

appreciate what you've shown, what you've shared. So where can

Janice Porter:

my audience find you? Jeff, sure

Jeff Bartsch:

have some special resources, especially for

Jeff Bartsch:

listeners of this podcast. And there's one URL to go to. It is

Jeff Bartsch:

story, greenlight.com/relationship and

Jeff Bartsch:

that is story, greenlight.com/relationship dot

Jeff Bartsch:

com slash relationship, and that'll give you some resources

Jeff Bartsch:

on how to dig more into this story stuff and how to keep the

Jeff Bartsch:

conversation going.

Janice Porter:

Fantastic. Thank you so much. I appreciate that,

Janice Porter:

and I will put that in the show notes. So this has been a

Janice Porter:

delight, and I have a feeling that you might have to come back

Janice Porter:

at some point, because I do enjoy talking to a lot, and I

Janice Porter:

hope that my audience has through the stories that you you

Janice Porter:

got it, that you got what's so important, that that Jeff is so

Janice Porter:

passionate about, and that you take the opportunity to go and

Janice Porter:

check out his resources on the website. And thank you again for

Janice Porter:

listening. You know that I couldn't do this without you,

Janice Porter:

and I appreciate my audience very much. If you like what you

Janice Porter:

heard, please leave a five star review. We'd like that, and

Janice Porter:

remember to stay connected, connected and be remembered.

Janice Porter:

You.

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About the Podcast

Relationships Rule
It’s always about Relationships!
Imagine that 68% of our clients leave because they feel we don’t care. Then visualize having authentic heart-based retention strategies, proven to minimize client losses, while organically generating a substantial number of loyal clients through referrals.

Catch a glimpse of how Janice opens a conversation by applying her fine-tuned curiosity. Notice how genuinely interested she is in building a relationship with her guests – heart-based business owners and entrepreneurs. In mere minutes, guests generously share their most sweet and powerful retention systems that you can adopt today!

As a seasoned relationship marketing specialist, Janice invites us to listen in weekly, as she reveals how to nurture and build relationships in real-time.

The Relationships Rule podcast’s aim, is to help you naturally ease your networking fears, so you can adopt strategies that amplify your client list, because the facts are, that today, success is built on a foundation of strong relationships. You can relax now, knowing you can activate your relationship marketing plan, by simply tuning in to Relationships Rule each week.

About your host

Profile picture for Janice Porter

Janice Porter

I began my career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years, and have now found my niche in coaching business owners to network at a world-class level.
My passion is working with motivated people, who are coachable and who want to build their businesses through relationship marketing and networking (offline & online). I help my clients create retention strategies, grow through referrals, and create loyal customers by staying connected.