That was a wonderful evening. I hosted a dinner for a friend who also happened to be an associate at that time. When I asked for a time, my friend asked me if he could bring his friends & colleagues along, to the dinner. I agreed wholeheartedly.
That evening came. I reached the hotel. After few minutes, my friend and his friends arrived.
We chose a cozy corner, joined tables, and made a space for ourselves.
We ordered starters, drinks. And then, we started talking.
After getting to know each one of them, slowly the attention turned towards me. Some of them asked me how I started as an entrepreneur.
Hmm, I didn’t have much to share in my entrepreneurial journey, since I had started it only about one and a half years back or so, then.
I decided to talk about my previous corporate sales experience and my Singapore days. “That should be interesting,” I thought.
For good storytelling, there is one most important factor required. And that is nothing but interested audience.
If there is no one to listen to you, whom will you tell your stories to?
Respect your audience. Thank them for their time. Reward them for their interest. It need not be a gift. It can be an idea. It can be something they can cherish for a long time to come.
It can be something that kindles their interest and make them look at their profession with renewed interest. Anything that makes their life wonderful, in short.
I talked at length about my immediate past. That was my experience in Singapore. My friends were all keenly listening to me as I narrated some of my experiences. We talked about not only work but also food, culture, people, cleanliness, high rises, business climate, temples, languages, libraries, theatres, electronics items, mustafa [how can you talk about Singapore and not talk about Mustafa shopping centre], lakes, reservoirs, parks, old trees, MRTs etc. I went on and on.
In between we ordered food and had it.
All of us enjoyed the food. But more than the food, we enjoyed talking about our life experiences.
It was an evening well spent. I will not forget that evening for the rest of my life. Good friends are tough to get. When you get them, don’t leave them ever. Hold them tightly.
Many years later, my friend told me that that was a great evening and he said I had engaged them all with my stories. He said that the rest of the friends had also felt the same way.
Happy Storytelling!
#b2bsales #storytelling #kkrocks
