Using your own perspective immediately breaks down barriers and begins to pull your listener in. It plays to the very essence of relationships: People like to do business with people, not businesses. What better way to relate on that level than to share something personal?

I shared a personal memory with you, but now imagine you heard me tell the story. The emotion I always feel around that memory is much better conveyed in person. This is all pretty obvious and the strength of a visual or video is so much more effective than just a written word. Even Dr. Seuss stories all included wonderful illustrations.

As insurance agents, you know that “facts tell but stories sell.” The better you become at storytelling, the better you'll become at selling. So look for ways to share your stories.

Storytelling and social media are perfect together. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, support storytelling, but in different ways for different audiences.

Because Facebook posts often result in threaded discussions, sharing a story on it should engage people to share back their own stories.

Twitter posts, on the other hand, are limited to 140 characters so it would be difficult to convey a good story. But linking the tweet to a video, audio or even your blog post is another way of sharing.

Pinterest is another great platform. What better way to share my story than to create a Pinterest board built around the character Horton from my favorite story? Or perhaps with an assembly of various images of mothers sharing bedtime stories with their kids, with me sharing my memory of why this is meaningful for me in the comments section.

Whatever your technique, whatever your words or the platforms you use, the common thread through it all has to be to connect with people; your stories and theirs. Carrying these stories throughout your online presence (website, blog, social media) shapes and enriches your agency brand. It's why case studies are so effective: These specific stories of business challenges, which were overcome, focus on solutions. If you have ever read an all-statistic white paper, compare that to hearing a story told by someone who lived the experience, had a problem and found a solution, you would know the difference.

Director's Cut

“If you have a good story and can tell a good story, everyone wants to listen to it. It's the one thing that's often missing from films because they tend to be predictable, because they tend to be formulaic,” says Michael Radford, director of such films “Il Postino” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four.”

The same could be said for insurance sales, especially personal lines, as it's usually about price. Good stories make all the difference in how your agency is perceived.