How was your weekend?
To tell good stories, you need to use good words.
“How was your weekend?”
When friends talk and share stories they use ordinary language - ‘cup of tea’ language, the words you’d expect to hear if you overheard two friends sitting in a café chatting about their weekend. It’s free of jargon and acronyms. It’s vivid, emotional and includes how they felt, why they were surprised, afraid or delighted. It’s told from a very human perspective.
When you talk to your friends, what kind of daily trivia do you share? What do you find most interesting about each others’ stories? What kind of language do you use?
Now check your service language. Imagine you are a customer and read your printed literature, call your customer service centre, speak to a member of the sales team, pour over your website and read the backlog of posts on social channels. Are you storytelling? Are you using cup of tea language? Would real people have a conversation like that?
