A to Z of Business Storytelling -06

F — Five Senses

Generally people are characterised based on their dominant affiliation towards one of the five senses namely vision, hearing, feeling smelling, and tasting. If we have the bandwidth to identify the person, whether he/she is a visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory or gustatory person, it is easy to connect with him/her by using their favorite language. But in reality, it is difficult to classify a person based on the five senses unless some conscious effort is taken. So, as a storyteller it is wise to use all the five senses in our stories, wherever applicable. The best crafted stories at least cover two of the five senses in them .If we do this, the stakeholders are transported to the scenario what we narrate. They would reimagine in their own minds what we saw, heard, smelled, tasted and felt. In short as a business storyteller, if you use sensory language, the audience get engaged and it is easy to make your message clear. In short, five senses are the flying carpets to transport your audience to the scenario of your story.

Visual

Though statements like “65% of the population are visual learners” are yet to be proved, storytellers liberally use visual sensory language to give vivid descriptions. Let us see how visual sensory phrases are used in business.

“Sir, Please have a look at the Lunar Silver Metallic…. I guess it would match your taste…. Get a side view sir... Your wife may also like this sedan... The steel beading on the sides give some extra look sir... By the way, this is the first model wherein we also have a blinker light at the bottom of the headlights. Sir, this model also comes with stylish ORVM blinker, which you have never seen?”

“What is ORVM?”

“Sir, ORVM means Outside Rear View Mirror… Last month Mr.Ravi from your Chennai one office bought this same model sir. Few days back, his wife called me and thanked me for suggesting this model. They actually got the “Best Looking Couple with the Best Looking Car” prize in their gated community sir on new year. She said that many of her friends were talking about the stylish look of this model sir. ”

That was a sales talk between me and the Chennai Motors sales manager, when I went to buy a new car. Understanding that I am a visual person, he was emphasising the Visual Sense in his sales talk.

How can we leverage the visual sensory phrases in our business storytelling? Here are a few tips:-

• When you plan to do business storytelling, take out you script and with the help of a highlighter pen, identify places where there is a scope for visual imagery.
• Use visual sensory idioms such as ‘I see your point’, ‘Look at this scenario’, ‘Now you would have observed’, ‘When we see the 6 months trend’, ‘See this Before/After image’, ‘, ‘The look and feel of our product’, ‘ ‘Let us view it from a different angle’, ‘Competition is watching our progress’, ‘We all witnessed what had happened’, ‘While gazing through the report’, ‘Glaring facts’, ‘We need to distinguish between target and actuals’, ‘While scanning through the document’, ‘Let them scrutinize the facts’, ‘Let us also be watchful’, ‘You too examine this bid response’, ‘He already figured it out;, ‘Where is the check-list’, ‘In the first glance’, ‘I already reviewed it’.
• Use visual metaphors such as ‘Our founder was a towering personality’, ‘The naked truth at the end of the day’, ‘The light at the end of the tunnel’, ‘Get more eyeballs on your content’, ‘As big as a foot-ball ground’.
• Use vivid imagery such as ‘Cherry red bean shaped car’, “Glossy finish’, ‘Cute, shining cutlery’, ‘aesthetically designed and intricately woven rug’.
• Do a sanity check and figure out if the use of sensory phrases is an over-dose. If so, rationalize them so that it is not overwhelming to the audience.
• Rehearse your storytelling with appropriate body language and facial expressions. (Showing hand gesture when describing a tall structure, Show a bright face while saying it was a bright morning etc)

Auditory

Using sensory words related to audio is not that easy like the visual sensory words, unless you have an ear for it. Let us see how the audible sensory word were used in a storytelling.

“When I joined my first job, I had to work in three shifts. My experience on the first night-shift, was exciting. Never been a night owl, I could not control my sleep. I switched off the lights and dozed off. There was absolute silence except the chirping noise of some insects. In a little while, I could also hear the tick-tock of the clock. Probably I would have nicely slept for two hours. I woke up with bang. All of a sudden there was a big commotion. People were shouting like anything. I could realize the arrival of a fire-truck. The doppler effect of the siren broke the silence and made me getup.”

That was a story I was narrating my team members who were supposed to work in night shift. While emphasizing the work etiquette in shift hours, I was using all auditory words to make the story realistic. Now you would have got an idea, how the auditory sensory words too transport the listeners to the story of the narrator.

Let us see how we leverage the auditory sensory phrases in our business storytelling? Here are a few tips:-

• When you plan to do business storytelling, take out you script and with the help of a highlighter pen, identify places where there is a scope for auditory sensory phrases.
• Use auditory sensory idioms such as ‘we too need create a buzz’, ‘humming noise of the inverter’, ‘it was a roaring success’, ‘customer was very vocal about it’, ‘that rang a bell’, ‘don’t escalate; raise an alarm’, “the message is loud and clear’, “he was tongue-tied’, ‘all of us were speechless’, ‘ this model hardly makes any sound’, ‘this time no big-bang approach’, “pin-drop silence’, ‘world is listening’, ‘high note of the evening’, ‘CEO thundered the room’, “it is all noise’, “he roared in delight’.
• Use auditory metaphors such as ‘court slapped the petitioner’, ‘music to my ears’,
• Use onomatopoeia phrases wherever possible. They are the words containing sounds similar to the noises they describe, Examples —’tick-tock’ of a clock, the ‘ding-dong’ of a doorbell, a beep, a zap, a hiccup, a hiss.
• Use audible imagery such as ‘Grinding halt’, deafening sound’,
• Do a sanity check and figure out if the use of sensory phrases is an over-dose. If so, rationalize them so that it is not overwhelming to the audience.
• Rehearse your storytelling with appropriate vocal variety.

Olfactory

The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived.

According to the Sense of Smell Institute, the average person will be able to distinguish over 10,000 different odours. Lot of studies reveal that smell can have on human behaviour, mood, and emotions. The sense of smell is closely linked with memory, probably more so than any of our other senses.

If the business storyteller appropriately uses the key olfactory phrases, the stickiness of the message would be very high. Let us see an example.

“It was year 1982. I was traveling to the northern industrial belt of Chennai comprising of several chemical process plants. As I entered Manali, I could sense the smell of chlorine from the chlor-alkali plant. As our bus progressed, the smell of ammonia from the fertilizer plant was penetrating my nostrils. From distance I could see the petroleum refinery, which was several times bigger than these process plants. Oh My God! If the smell from the chlor-alkali plant and the fertilizer plant is so severe, what would be intensity of pollution from the complex refinery? I was wondering how am I going to survive in the industry lifelong. But when I stepped into the refinery for the first time, there was no substantial pollution. As we entered the training center, the nice aroma of the room spray gave a warm welcome to us. The training manager told us that the pollution from refinery is far lesser than some of the chemical plants.”

That was from an informative speech on ‘Environmental Pollution from Petroleum Refining’, wherein I was emphasizing the olfactory sense.

How can we leverage the visual sensory phrases in our business storytelling? Here are a few tips:-

• When you plan to do business storytelling, take out you script and with the help of a highlighter pen, identify places where there is a scope for olfactory imagery.
• Use olfactory sensory idioms such as ‘something is fishy’, ‘the corporate politics is stinking’, ‘smell the success’. ‘there came the floral tribute’, ‘ we smelt the problem upfront’, ‘enough of your pungent comment’, ‘we could smell a rat’,
• Use olfactory metaphors such as ‘Stop and smell the roses’, ‘The bouquet of Summer followed her into the room’, ‘That idea stinks’
• Use olfactory imagery such as ‘she had a fragrant personality’, ‘The air of the room was charged with the rich smell of newly melted wax’, ‘There was a distinct smell of incense in the air of these narrow streets’, ‘ the tangy smell of Mexican salsa greeted the visitors’.
• Do a sanity check and figure out if the use of sensory phrases is an over-dose. If so, rationalize them so that it is not overwhelming to the audience.
• Rehearse your storytelling with appropriate body language and facial expressions. (Showing hand gesture when describing a tall structure, Show a bright face while saying it was a bright morning etc)

Gustatory

Having seen the power of sensory phrases related to Visual, Auditory and Olfactory, now let us see the fourth sense named as Gustatory. The meaning of Gustatory is relating to or associated with eating or the sense of taste. Let us see an example, how gustatory sense was used in a business context.

“Myself and Hari were an assignment with the Ministry of Energy and Mines at Sudan. It was for a due diligence towards preparing an IT Roadmap for them. Everyday we were supposed to interview four heads of departments. Everyday when we enter the room of the HOD, immediately his/her assistant would bring the drinks and the eatables. Here the drinks are not coffee or tea as you all think. What they served were Karkade a local drink made of Hibiscus and dry dates. After having a sip of the exotic pink colored Karkade, we took the dry dates. The dry dates were neither soft nor crunchy. One has to soak them in the mouth and eat it very slowly. When the dry date was in our mouth, how can we open our mouth and talk? What to do with the seeds? Obviously we cannot swallow them. But if we take the seeds out of the mouth and keep it on the table, how will it be viewed? Will it really look nice? We were in an embarrassing situation”

This was from my speech to my team members on ‘Aligning with Global Culture’, wherein I was trying to leverage the he gustatory sense.

How can we leverage the gustatory sensory phrases in our business storytelling? Here are a few tips:-

• When you plan to do business storytelling, take out you script and with the help of a highlighter pen, identify places where there is a scope for gustatory imagery.
• Use gustatory sensory idioms such as ‘acidic words’, ‘let us use palatable words’, ‘ spicy stories’, ‘tasted the success’, ‘sour relationship’, ‘Food for thought’, ‘have a sweet tooth’, ‘apple of his eye’, ‘it was a cake walk’, bite off more than you can chew’, ‘given on a silver platter’, ‘spill the beans’, ‘not my cup of tea’
• Use gustatory metaphors such as ‘sour relationship’, ‘taking the candy from the baby’, ‘ sold like hotcakes’, ‘take with a pinch of salt’, ‘variety is the spice of life’, ‘don’t compare apples and oranges’, ‘cool as a cucumber’, ‘ half-baked knowledge’, ‘hard nut to crack’, ‘in nutshell’, ‘bitter pill to swallow’, ‘food for thought’, ‘no free-lunch’, ‘couch potato’, ‘bread and butter of our business’
• Use gustatory imagery such as ‘Yummy dessert ’,’ Yucky food’. mouth-watering sweets’. sugary syrup’, ‘sugarcoated words’, ‘like a two peas in a pod’, ‘low hanging fruit’, ‘rotten to the core’,
• Do a sanity check and figure out if the use of sensory phrases is an over-dose. If so, rationalize them so that it is not overwhelming to the audience.
• Rehearse your storytelling with appropriate body language and facial expressions. (Show an exciting face while saying it was a yummy dessert, Show a disgusting face when saying it was a yucky food etc)

Kinesthetic

The last sense we are going to talk about is the Kinesthetic sense. It is to do with movement or sensation, especially within the body. The adjective kinesthetic comes from the noun kinesthesia, which means the sensory perception of movement. Kinesthesia happens when the brain gets feedback from muscles and ligaments about how the body is moving. Let us now see how kinesthetic phrases can be used in business storytelling.

“Can you all sit straight and stretch your arms? Now raise your hands and bend it. Bring it back like how I do it. Now just tap your shoulders. Hey, all of you hearty congratulations! Because of our concerted efforts, now we have bagged a new project that would keep us going for two years. It is not only going to bring us revenue, but would keep us busy for next two years. Now we have a great sigh of relief.”

That was a part of the speech made by our business leader when we got a new order from a customer.

How can we leverage the kinesthetic sensory phrases in our business storytelling? Here are a few tips:-

• When you plan to do business storytelling, take out you script and with the help of a highlighter pen, identify places where there is a scope for kinesthetic imagery.
• Use kinesthetic sensory idioms such as ‘Get an handle on it’, ‘grasp the concept’, ‘get in touch with you’, ‘start from scratch’, “reach out to them’, ‘make a cold call’, ‘we cannot grease the palms’, ‘sensitive information’, ‘Goosebumps’, ‘have a rough day’, ‘unable to squeeze in new projects’.
• Use kinesthetic metaphors such as ‘wave a magic hand for innovation’, “increase message stickiness’’ with his magical touch’. ‘crispy message’, ‘rough weather’,
• Use kinesthetic imagery such as ‘lukewarm response’, ‘firm foundation’, “we cannot boil the ocean’,
• Do a sanity check and figure out if the use of sensory phrases is an over-dose. If so, rationalize them so that it is not overwhelming to the audience.
• Rehearse your storytelling with appropriate body language and facial expressions. (Show an appropriate hand gesture, when saying ‘greasing the palms’ or ‘ goosebumps’)

Tips

• Divide the five days of the weeks for every sense. For example on Monday pay attention to only visual appeal. The next day can be for olfactory, where you may pay attention to every smell, fragrance and aroma.