The Ultimate

Selling Story

Cut Through the

Marketing Clutter
Forge a Powerful Bond
with Your Market
And Set Up the Sale
Using the Hero’s Journey
of Story Selling

Roy Furr
The Ultimate Selling Story

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Copyright © 2017, Roy Furr

Published in the United States of America

170720-00867

ISBN-13: 978-1947313262
ISBN-10: 1947313266

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Here’s What’s Inside…
Introduction...............................................................1
Part I: Why Story Selling? ......................................7
Part II: The Ultimate Selling Story .................. 15
Part III: 3 Pillars of Highly-Effective
Storytelling.............................................................. 35
Appendix A:
This “hack” instantly makes you a better
writer, speaker, and salesperson… ................ 43
Appendix B:
How to make a big sale believable and
compelling... ............................................................ 48
Appendix C:
The 3-Step Story Formula .................................. 54
Appendix D:
5 lessons learned from the Broadway show
Hamilton about story selling… ......................... 61
Appendix E:
Find the selling story by working
backwards… ............................................................ 69
Wait: Before you dive in!

You’ll love this book, I promise. And, you’ll get

even more out of it with these additional
resources…
FREE Companion Template and Training
Go to: StorySellingTemplate.com
This book comes with a companion template you
can use as a shortcut and easy one-page
reference guide, the next time you’re crafting
your version of The Ultimate Selling Story.
Plus, you’ll also get a free and exclusive video
workshop on advanced story selling techniques.
Get both FREE at: StorySellingTemplate.com
Go Deep & Develop Story Selling Mastery
Go to: StorySellingMasterClass.com
If you’re serious about building your storytelling
and persuasion skills, you shouldn’t stop with
The Ultimate Selling Story.
Go deep on each of the 3 Pillars of Highly-
Effective Story Selling and develop mastery of
story-based persuasion.
Learn more at: StorySellingMasterClass.com
Introduction
Cut Through The Marketing Clutter
The average prospect living in a modern
industrialized society sees 5,000 to 10,000
marketing messages every day. These show up in
the form of logos, ads, commercials, images, and
so on.
Your prospects are being over-promised and
over-sold. So much so, that it’s not just that they
don’t believe what your marketing promises to
them.
They don’t even pay attention.
Their anti-advertising and anti-selling filters are
set on high. Your prospect is tired of used-car-
salesman tactics and internet marketing
schemes.
Not only that, they’re just as uninterested in
corporate speak that doesn’t care about them
and instead prioritizes an image or a feeling of a
brand.
Modern technology has given your prospect the
promise of better, easier connection. And yet,
they’re feeling more isolated than ever before.
With less real human connection.
All of this adds up to your prospect wanting to
feel understood. They light up when you feel
real, authentic, vulnerable. And when you’re
speaking about something relevant and
important to them.
1
Forge A Powerful Bond With Your Market
Story is the fastest path you have to cut through
all of this, all of these limitations based on the
state of your prospect today.
Specifically, the Ultimate Selling Story is a
formula for breaking through, making a human
connection with your prospects, helping them
feel understood and setting up the sale in the
clearest, most direct way possible.
But what about you, taking on the role of
storyteller and story seller?
Whether you are a copywriter, a marketer, a
business owner, a salesperson, or a speaker,
however you define your role such that you’d be
interested in story selling, you may have this
fundamental objection. You may think, “But I’m
not a natural born storyteller.”
I want to tell you that’s okay.
In the last few years, I’ve helped clients tell their
stories in a way that has generated millions in
revenue and profits. And yet, I started out as a
storytelling failure.
When I was in college, I took a course on writing
modern short fiction. I wrote something based
on what excited me about the story. Basically, all
the details and flowery language of classic
English literature.
This is the kind of writing I’d been taught
through school, through academics, to perfect

2
and excel at. And yet, when I got my graded
story back, the grade was bad and the criticism
was worse.
The professor told me readers today were not
interested in writing like mine. They wanted
something clearer, more direct, which connected
with them. They wouldn’t put up with my fancy
language, they just wanted to be entertained.
I, for the first time in a writing class, got a
terrible grade on the story I wrote. And that’s
because I didn’t understand how to put myself in
the reader’s shoes and connect with them based
on their experience.
And yet, that one piece of feedback forever
changed the way I thought about writing and
storytelling, and set me down a path to
advertising success..
And Set Up The Sale
Ever since then, I’ve learned not just how to tell
stories that interest readers. But how to tell a
story such that I’m able to get people to take
action. That I’m able to generate leads,
customers, sales, and profits with my story
selling.
I got into marketing and business in 2005. I
quickly realized the people who did best in
business and especially marketing were masters
of storytelling. I was coming from a background
where I did not feel like a master of storytelling. I
knew if I was going to make a decent living at

3
this, I had to get way better at telling a story
which hooked my audience and moved them
toward a buying decision.
Since then, I’ve created multiple seven-figure
advertising campaigns which have been
primarily centered on stories. This is coming
from someone who’s not a natural storyteller.
Frankly, I’m not even a natural sales person or
marketer either, but I did learn what works. I
learned specifically how sales people, marketers,
entrepreneurs and business owners use stories
to generate real business results, meaning more
leads, more customers, more sales, and more
profits.
The right story to the right market in the right
media attached to the right offer at the right time
is like capturing lightning in a bottle. I saw this, I
wanted to do it, and so I studied both how
entertainment or fiction storytellers do it and
how business or nonfiction storytellers do it. I
discovered a lot that worked about the way
others approach stories. And I also found some
holes, some shortcomings, especially in the way
stories are taught in a selling context.
After searching and searching for someone to tell
me the better way, I decided I was just going to
have to lay it out on my own for myself. What I
did was go back to all the studying and research
and experience I had up until that point. And I
combined the best of what I learned with my
own experience and observations. In fact, I

4
identified over a dozen specific story templates
relevant to using stories in selling or business
context.
I taught this in a course, which initially retailed
for about $500, called “The Story Selling Master
Class.”
If you want to learn more about that program,
you can go to StorySellingMasterClass.com.
Using The Hero’s Journey Of Story Selling
Then, as I dug deeper, I discovered that, among
those 12 selling story templates, there was one
main narrative which flowed through nearly
every specific story template. This one narrative,
if you could master it, would take you from zero
to effective story seller in almost no time flat.
If you’re writing fiction, you probably know
you’re going to follow the hero’s journey. It’s the
underlying narrative arc of nearly every great
story, as identified by Joseph Campbell. It was
used as a template to write Star Wars and other
great Hollywood fiction. And is used as a
template for telling fiction stories over and over
and over again, to great critical and box office
acclaim.
The Ultimate Selling Story is like that, but it’s for
selling. In fact, I lovingly refer to it as “the hero’s
journey of story selling.”
This is the one story arc which can be told from
your perspective or your customer’s perspective
to instantly get the listener, reader, viewer, or
5
prospect you’re speaking to one-on-one to
immediately recognize the value of your offer,
and feel compelled to take you up on it. And now
it’s yours.
That said, learning this does come with a certain
responsibility.
I’ve proven to myself the transformative
breakthrough power of story selling, and
specifically, The Ultimate Selling Story. Your
responsibility is to take this template and
formula, learn it, and find a way to use it to tell
your story, or your customer’s story.
This is not a long book. Rather, it’s a book
designed to be finished fast, giving you the
essential framework you need to go out there
and start applying what you learn. So you can
tell your own version of The Ultimate Selling
Story. And enjoy more leads, customers, sales,
and profits as a result.
I look forward to hearing about your results and
newfound story selling success!
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr

6
Part I: Why Story Selling?
“95% of our purchase decisions take place
unconsciously.” Harvard Business Review
Stories are the most natural form of
communication.
As humans, we’ve been telling written stories for
thousands of years. And it is likely we’ve been
telling word of mouth stories for tens of
thousands, perhaps, even hundreds of thousands
of years.
Every major culture is defined by its stories. Our
stories, quite literally, are our culture.
Stories are easier to remember. Stories get
passed along. And stories reach us at a deep
level.
If you use a logical sales and marketing pitch,
you’re speaking to the head of your prospect.
That’s important because the head is where their
buying decisions are justified.
But stories speak to the heart and the gut. And
that’s important, because the heart and the gut
are where buying decisions are made.
You have a choice.
If you use stories, you’re choosing to speak to
your prospect where their buying decision is
made. But if you restrict your persuasive
messaging to logical appeals, you’re only

7
speaking to where buying decisions are justified
after they are made.
And as the Harvard Business Review reported,
95% of our purchase decisions take place
unconsciously. That’s in the heart and the gut,
not the head.
Once you get the heart and gut on board, you can
and should use logic to show your prospect how
they’re making the right decision.
However, it’s almost impossible to move the
other way: to convince the head, then to move
the heart and gut.
Connect With Your Market
Stories are a connection from heart to heart.
From gut to gut. From human to human. Once
that connection is made, the head will follow.
Today, we have more ways to connect than ever.
And yet, we feel more disconnected.
That’s painful. We need connection. We thrive
on connection.
Stories are uniquely able to create that
connection we need.
It’s why we watch movies, and it’s why stories
work so well in presentations or advertisements,
in marketing videos, on the internet, in print,
wherever.

8
Because we want to feel the heart, the real
person inside. We’re looking for transparency,
honesty, openness.
Stories are a channel for this connection, and a
shortcut we use to reach it.
Once that connection is there, it transcends any
product, service, or offers we may put out into
the marketplace.
That connection, when established correctly
through story selling, creates a follower, a fan,
and a friend for life. Which is way bigger and far
more valuable as a relationship than simply
having a customer.
Having someone become a follower, a fan, and a
friend for life means they’re going to be
connected with you beyond this transaction, for
any value you want to give them and offers you
want to make in the future.
Create Believable Selling Messages
Not only that, stories make the rest of what
you’re saying feel more real. The biggest barrier
in marketing today in this world of clutter, over-
promises, and overselling is believability.
In mature markets and, increasingly, in all
markets, this has created the biggest promise
phenomenon.
I’m sure you’ll recognize this. It’s the
phenomenon where each marketer makes a

9
bigger promise in an attempt to win out the
competition in the customers’ eyes.
One weight loss marketer says, “I’ll help you lose
two pounds this week.” The next one says, “I’ll
help you lose five pounds.” Pretty soon, they’re
saying, “I’ll help you lose 20 pounds.” That’s the
biggest promise phenomenon.
In stocks, it is, “I have a stock that’s going to
grow 50% in the next month.” The next is, “I
have a stock that’s going to increase 100% in the
next month.” The next is, “I have a stock that’s
going to multiply ten times.” Again, that’s the
biggest promise phenomenon.
Each marketer makes a bigger promise than the
last, trying to win the competition.
Eventually, the promises grow so incredible that
they become in-credible, meaning no longer
credible.
Believability evaporates, especially when it
comes to making yet another promise.
How do you get around that? If you guessed that
the answer is stories, you’re right.
Stories are a way around the biggest promise
phenomenon, to connect with your prospects in
a way which doesn’t require you to overinflate
promises just to be heard.
Get Them To Pay Attention
Even better, people want to pay attention to the
stories you tell. It’s almost hardwired.

10
We have been using stories for tens of
thousands, if not, hundreds of thousands of
years. They are universal.
If your prospects are human beings, no matter
the market, they will resonate with a well-told
story that’s relevant to them. Because stories
speak to the heart and gut, they’re not filtered in
the same way claims, promises, and other logical
appeals are.
When you tell a story about someone besides the
prospect, that is, you tell a story about yourself
or another customer, the focus they give you
moves outside of themselves. This gives them
permission to pay attention to what you’re
saying in a way where they don’t feel like they
have to filter.
Plus, that focus moved outside of ourselves is a
more natural place for us to sustain attention.
Just think about the last time you went to a
movie, and it held your interest for two hours.
Then, as you were walking out of the movie
theater, you almost had to pause and reorient
yourself to real life going on around you. Because
your attention had been in the story for such an
extended period.
Multiply Your Message Through Media
One more important point about stories is that
they can be captured, repeated, and multiplied
through media.

11
If you have been involved with direct marketing,
direct response marketing, mail order
marketing, you may know that, way back in the
early 1900s, some significant advertisers by the
names of John E. Kennedy, Claude Hopkins, and
Albert Lasker introduced a definition of
advertising as salesmanship in print. Today, I
refer to that as selling multiplied through media.
Or simply, selling multiplied. Because today
we’re not just talking about print advertising or
direct mail letters. We’re talking about all the
multimedia that’s available to us as a modern
marketer.
When you’re able to capture a compelling sales
pitch or selling the story in media, you can
multiply that to reach thousands or even millions
of prospects with little more effort than reaching
one.
A written story can be shared on the internet or
in print. Through advertisements, web pages,
books, emails, letters, and so on.
A story told through a video can be shared on
YouTube, on your website, on webinars, or
through any other video delivery mechanism.
A story told in audio can be shared on podcasts
and recordings and broadcasts. It can be
transcribed. It can be shared in multiple media.
Speeches and presentations are also great ways
to deliver stories, selling one-to-many rather

12
than one-to-one or multiplied through some
replicable media.
Plus, when you have a good selling story, you can
learn it, you can memorize it, you can repeat it,
and you can share it. As can everyone on your
team, your internal sales staff, and other
members of your staff who interact with
customers.
Everyone can memorize those stories and use
them to drive your sales.
Make Your Prospect Vibrate
Finally, the right story can make your prospect
vibrate.
This language comes from Marty Edelston, the
founder of Boardroom, Inc. Under Marty’s
leadership, Boardroom grew to be a $150-
million-a-year direct response publisher.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet Marty, but
shortly after he passed away, Marty’s business
partner, Brian Kurtz, held a huge
commemoration event in his honor. The event
was called The Titans of Direct Response, and I
had the great fortune of working with Brian on
the story-based promotion for that event.
Here’s something Brian shared with us at Titans.
Under Marty, and under Brian, Boardroom sent
well over a billion pieces of direct mail as their
primary method for growing their business. It’s

13
what pushed them up to $100 million and
beyond in annual sales.
Marty looked at nearly every piece of marketing
before it went out the door. And he had one most
important question about the copy. Marty’s
question was, “Does it make me vibrate?”
That is, “Does this message stir a visceral
emotional reaction that I will want to take action
on by placing an order?”
I know it’s happened to me more than once. I’ve
worked for weeks or months on a campaign. The
team has put it into production. And when I first
see the finished product, it’s a chance to
experience it anew. I start reading or watching,
and I feel myself getting lost in the story. I feel
the emotions stirring. Suddenly, I notice my
heart racing. I’m vibrating. That’s when I know
I’ve created a winner.
And more often than not, the secret to creating
that visceral reaction is the right story.
With that said, I think it’s time for us to dive into
the Ultimate Selling Story.

14
Part II: The Ultimate Selling Story
Now we get to the core content of this book,
which is the Ultimate Selling Story formula. Or,
as I called it before, the hero’s journey of story
selling.
This method is very easy to remember. I have
given it an acronym that makes it easy for you to
memorize, easy for you to recall, and easy for
you to use. That acronym is PAISA, which stands
for Problem, Agitate, Invalidate, Solve, and Ask.
This is a natural narrative arc based on
principles of effective story-based persuasion.
While it can be used more generically and is very
useful in crafting any selling or marketing
message, this formula is best used as the
narrative arc for crafting selling stories, and it’s
very versatile.
You can tell the PAISA story from your
perspective: “I had this problem. Here’s why it
was so bad. I looked at all the other solutions out
there and couldn’t find one that fit the bill, so I
solved it which led to XYZ product or service,
and now you can get it, here’s how.”
Or you can tell the PAISA story about a customer
as a case study: “Our customer had this problem.
It got so bad, they went out looking for all the
other solutions that were out there and were
coming up empty until they found us and

15
realized our unique solution was perfect for
them, and now you can get the results they got.”
I said this is versatile. You can use it to tell your
story or to tell your customer’s story. You can
use it to sell products, to sell services, to sell
information, to sell software. You can use it to
sell almost anything under the sun, just by some
creative application of the five steps.
For example, I used it to sell a product, an EMP-
resistant backup solar generator. I’m not going to
go too deep into what an EMP is here, but it’s a
pulse of electricity that flies through the air and
can wreak havoc with modern electronics. I had
a client who had built a very high-end backup
solar generator inside an EMP-resistant case. We
identified how to use the PAISA formula to tell a
story which led to the prospects only wanting to
buy his backup solar generator. We generated
seven figures in sales results very quickly, within
a couple of months, based on this story.
I’ve used it to sell services. I’ve used it to sell
consulting packages. Where somebody has a
problem they know they want to have solved,
where you can speak to that issue and agitate the
experience of that problem. You can invalidate
all the other solutions they’ve tried. You can lay
out your consulting as the solution which is
superior. And then you can ask them to take
action by signing up.
I’ve used it to sell information, including an IT
training video subscription. I’ve used it to sell

16
software. You can use it for products which
solve many kinds of problems: health problems,
wealth problems, relationship problems. You can
use it in a very versatile way.
The question is, “What problem is my prospect
facing right now?” Then from there, “What is
their experience if that problem remains
unsolved? How have other solutions been
inferior and thus invalid? What is unique about
my solution that will get them the result they
want, which is the answer to the problem?”
Then, “What offer do I put in front of them to get
them to take action now?”
Like the hero’s journey, this is a nearly universal
narrative template you can plug and play for
almost any market, any offer, and any business.
Again, you just need to determine who had the
problem and could make a great subject for the
story. And from there, simply follow the steps.
How did they come to recognize this problem in
their life?
How was the unsolved problem causing agitation
in their internal and external life experience?
Why were other solutions, including doing it
themselves, buying an alternative product or
service, or leaving the problem unsolved all
invalid?
How did they land on your solution and what
were the buying criteria which convinced them
your product or service was right for them?
17
Importantly, what was the result they got from
implementing the solution?
Then how can I, your prospect, get the solution
for myself? What does it come with and why do I
need to act now?
Let’s go deeper into each of those five steps:
Problem, Agitate, Invalidate, Solve and Ask.
Start With The Problem
When you want to speak to the problem, here’s
what you need to do. The problem you present
must connect with the prospect for instant
recognition. I started off the introduction to this
book saying your prospect is exposed to 5,000,
to 10,000 advertising and selling messages every
day. Their filters are on high such that most of
those messages can’t even get through.
The way you get through is by connecting with
them based on a problem they are experiencing
right now.
Your goal in every marketing or selling
communication is to have your ideal prospect
decide within the first five seconds that this is
exactly what they’ve been looking for. In the
headline, in the intro or whatever you’re putting
out there that forms the first impression in their
mind, they should recognize you’re speaking to a
familiar even pressing problem and addressing it
in a language they resonate with.
Essentially, you’re speaking to the problem
which kept them up last night.
18
A problem is a market.
This is one of the most valuable lessons you can
learn in business. Because if you understand a
problem a large enough group of people have,
that problem defines the market. And it defines
the products and services and offers you’re able
to put out into that market to get business
results for yourself.
Demographics, psychographics, and even
behavioral measures are sometimes used to
measure markets. The more accurate definition
of a market though is this: it’s people looking to
solve XYZ problem.
Problems can be negative situations, but note
here that a problem can also be an opportunity
or desire that’s unfulfilled.
Your prospect has a dream, they have desires,
and they have a sense of what their destiny is.
The gap between where they are now and where
they want to be, that’s just as much of a problem
as any fear, frustration, or failure they are
experiencing.
You speak to that gap, whether it’s negative or
positive, and you have identified a problem you
can solve.
Finally, about problems, you do need to be
speaking to a market that is ready, willing, and
able to buy, and that’s big enough to support
your business.

19
When you can target a broad enough segment of
a population who are able and ready to invest in
a solution to a problem, that’s when you have a
business that can really take off.
I’ve made the mistake of doing the opposite
before, of providing a great solution to a problem
that very few people had.
When I was just getting into marketing, just
learning marketing, I sold a tutorial video from
my dad on how to cut foam wings for model
airplanes and we owned that market for a
number of years. However, that market was so
small that even though we were able to get
people who are ready, willing, and able to buy, it
never amounted to a business.
You need to have a broad enough segment of the
population who are able and willing to invest in
the solution to a problem to create a sizable,
scalable business from that.
Importantly, even if the market is able and
willing, they must also be made ready to invest
in the solution. Your messaging can get those
who are ready now to take immediate action,
and it can move those who aren’t quite ready to a
more urgent response, which is exactly what the
Ultimate Selling Story is designed to do.
Agitate The Experience Of The Problem
At this point, we have determined the problem
that exists in our market and which we are going
to speak to. Either from our perspective, or from

20
the standpoint of a customer whose case study
we’re going to put out into the market.
We speak to that problem in such a way that our
target market has instant recognition we are
talking about something which matters to them.
When you have done that—and it can take place
over a couple of sentences, a few words if you do
it right—then you can move on to agitating the
experience of that problem in your prospect’s
life.
The question for this agitate step is, “What are
the emotional and practical tolls of not solving
the problem?”
This speaks to an important truth you have to
recognize in selling.
Having a problem is not enough reason to take
action. You don’t have to look very far to see
people who are staying in bad situations and
individuals who are putting up with insufficient
conditions for a very, very long time. People will
stay in bad relationships for years. They’ll
remain in a bad job getting underpaid and
overworked for years. People will know their
health behaviors are leading them to some major
problems down the road but not change those
behaviors for years. It’s human nature to
procrastinate, to put off until tomorrow what
isn’t screaming to be addressed today.

21
In this agitation step of telling the Ultimate
Selling Story, you must make the problem
scream.
How do you do that? By asking a series of critical
questions.
What are the immediate and obvious
consequences of not solving this problem? What
are the long-term implications of the problem
going unsolved?
How will not solving this problem keep your
prospect from fulfilling their dreams, their
desires, and their destiny? How will leaving this
issue unsolved realize their fears, their
frustrations, and their failures?
What is their worst-case scenario of not taking
action to resolve this issue now?
What is the internal struggle that comes with not
solving the external problem?
I’ll speak to that last question for just a moment.
Because if you’ve studied the hero’s journey
much at all, you’ll recognize that the hero goes
through not one but two journeys. There’s the
external journey, which is the pursuit and
achievement of an external, visible goal. And
then there’s the internal journey, the journey of
transformation that takes place as they pursue
their external goal.
As the hero is going through their external
journey, they’re having internal struggles. And as
your prospect is dealing with an external or
22
practical problem in their life, they’re having
internal, emotional conflicts.
If you want to agitate to the point where they’re
going to want to take action on almost no matter
what offer you put in front of them, you have to
speak to that internal struggle.
The next thing you want to consider, whether
you’re telling this story from your perspective or
a customer’s perspective, is what problems were
run into when trying to find a good solution.
Most products or services are created to solve a
problem in a way that hasn’t been tried before.
At least, most outstanding goods or services are
set up with that intention. The reason it
happened is the person who created that
product or service went out looking at alternate
solutions which were in the market and
recognized that none of them quite met their
needs like they were hoping.
When they experienced the problem in a way
that wasn’t too pressing, it gave them time they
could go out and window shop for solutions.
They could look at all of the different options
available to them in the marketplace. They could
consider doing some DIY project to solve the
problem on their own.
While they were window shopping solutions,
they started to establish a series of buying
criteria for what that perfect solution would look
like.

23
This is something that happens naturally,
through looking and asking the question, “What
do I want that I’m not seeing available to me in
the marketplace? What am I looking for in a
product or service to solve this problem that I
am not seeing available to me right now?”
This is part of the agitation phase. Because when
you’re looking for a solution to a problem that’s
not pressing, you are clarifying all those little
details of the problem. You’re understanding the
impact on your life, and the need for a solution
that is a perfect fit for your experience of the
problem.
The agitation comes from not being able to find a
perfect fit solution.
Then we get to an essential point.
We’ve laid out the problem either from our
perspective or a customer’s perspective. And
we’ve laid out this internal and external
experience of realizing the impact this problem
is going to have on our life. And the internal and
external experience of not being able to find an
adequate solution.
Then we reach a point you’ll see in fiction as well
as nonfiction story selling.
It’s the darkest hour.
This is that moment where, suddenly, a solution
becomes urgent.

24
For the entrepreneur, it may be realizing they’re
on the brink of bankruptcy. For a health-related
problem, it may be an unexpected
hospitalization. For a relationship issue, it may
be getting dumped.
There can be all sorts of things which bring you
to that point in time: the darkest hour when that
solution becomes urgent.
At some point, something happens. And you, as
the person who’s trying to solve the problem,
cross the threshold from inaction to action. You
go from being a window shopper to seeking out
the best available solution, right now.
The emotions that go along with this include
desperation, vulnerability, and hopelessness.
It’s essential that, as you are reaching the end of
the agitation phase, you bring either yourself or
the prospect into those feelings of desperation,
of vulnerability, of hopelessness where you
know you have a problem.
You know you don’t have any choice but to solve
it and you need to get a solution, pronto.
That is when there is a spark of resolution, a
decision to take action.
If you created the product or service to solve
your own problem, this is the moment where
you finally decided to sit down and define what
your perfect solution would look like. And
realized that you, in fact, were going to have to
create it.
25
Or if you’re telling it from the customer’s
perspective, this is where they decided, “Okay,
it’s time for me not to be a window shopper
anymore. It’s time for me to get this solution.”
That’s when we get to the invalidate phase.
Invalidate All Other Potential Solutions
The invalidate phase is where you are in this
mad rush to solve the problem. Because you
better solve it now, or else things are only going
to get much worse.
You research all solutions. You look back at all
the other solutions that exist in the marketplace,
all those things you’ve been window shopping.
You compare the features and the benefits
you’ve seen. To understand how they’re going to
help you solve your problem.
It’s the same process whether you’re talking
about this from your perspective or a customer
perspective. Whether you’re the inventor or
telling a case study, you are comparing all the
solutions out there in the marketplace and
finding that none of them are sufficient to meet
your buying criteria.
In telling the story this way, you are establishing
your buying criteria.
As you go, you’re developing an ever longer list
that defines what the ideal solution to the
problem is. As your prospect is following you
along through the story, they are adopting that

26
list as their criteria for what’s going to move
them to make a buying decision.
You name all the individual elements and
identify exactly why they’re needed to create the
ideal solution.
One of my favorite examples of this is selling that
backup solar generator. The client realized one
of the competing models had 17 proprietary
fuses. If one of them went out in a power
emergency situation and you didn’t have a
replacement, you suddenly didn’t have backup
power.
My client installed breakers rather than fuses.
And it was that buying criteria which
immediately invalidated the other options that
may have needed fuses to provide continuous
power from the backup power source.
Done right, as you establish all of the buying
criteria in favor of your product, you’re setting
up a category of one that no product or service
other than the one you’re about to introduce can
occupy.
If you are telling this from your perspective,
there is a crucial sentence you can throw in, and
that sentence is, “I couldn’t find it, so I built it.”
Ultimately, your search for a solution had come
up empty. You came up with a long list of buying
criteria of what the perfect product or service
would be, and there was nothing on the market
which fulfilled your needs.

27
You decided that if nobody else was going to
create the solution, you are going to have to do it.
This is when you introduce the product.
Present The Perfect Solution
You’ve laid out the problem keeping your
prospect up at night. You’ve agitated the
experience of letting that problem go unsolved.
You’ve invalidated all the alternate solutions to
that problem. And now, you present your
solution.
Again, it’s the same narrative arc whether you’re
telling it from your perspective as the inventor of
the product or a customer’s perspective in a case
study format.
This is the point where the perfect solution is
identified.
If this is you, you want to state how you made a
dramatic investment in creating the perfect
solution.
Work in true statements along the lines of, “I
poured over a million dollars of my own money
into this.” Or, “I spent the last seven years
digging into this.”
The more extraordinary the effort, the more
desirable it becomes for your prospect to have
the solution you came out with, which you
created, which is your proprietary solution to the
problem.

28
Discovering this external solution creates an
internal sense of triumph. Whether it’s you
finding it in the form of making it, or your
prospect getting the same feeling from
discovering you.
You report that it has gotten the results you
wanted. Maybe even faster, easier, or cheaper
than you could have with any of the other
alternative solutions. This is the category of one
solution that is the perfect fit to solve this
problem.
Earlier in the story, you were discussing the
problem and solution in more general terms.
Now, you’re free to discuss the solution in the
form of a product or service.
You present the name.
You can make a “first and only” statement. “This
is the first and only widget designed from the
ground up as a complete solution to XYZ
problem,” because if you did it right, that’s what
it is.
It is a proprietary and exclusive solution to the
problem as you’ve defined it. Because you had
used that buying criteria which has already
eliminated all other solutions, your solution was
unique from the start.
This is a great place to repeat the buying critera.
Previously, you laid it out to invalidate the other
solutions which were being considered. Now,

29
you are explaining exactly how your solution
fulfills every one of those buying criteria.
Here’s one more great story element that can
add to persuasively telling the story, if there’s
some grain of truth to it.
It’s the reluctant hero moment.
You initially built the solution to solve the
problem for you and you alone.
But somewhere along the way you realized it
was too good to keep to yourself. Or perhaps
someone else told you, pleaded with you, that
you simply must share it with the world. So you
reluctantly created a product or service and
business built around it.
That moment, that conversation, that decision to
no longer keep it to yourself, to share it with the
world, is the reluctant hero moment. And it’s a
reliably powerful emotional appeal for prospects
who are following you up to this point.
Finally, after we’ve gone through the problem,
the agitation of leaving the problem unsolved,
the invalidation of other solutions available, and
the presentation of our solution, we get to the
point where we ask.
Ask For Action With A Compelling Offer
We ask the prospect to take action, to take us up
on the offer.
Entire books can be and have been written on
creating great offers that spur action. I won’t go

30
into too much detail on that here, but I will tell
you that there are some important details of the
offer you need to think about.
First and foremost, the offer you are presenting
as part of your selling story should be incredibly
relevant. It must be the clear solution to the
problem you’ve been talking about up until this
point.
The offer is where you lay that out in a clear,
compelling way. Even if it’s a service, you
productize it, you package it. You present it in a
way that is easy to understand.
You answer the important questions that we all
want to have answered before we make a buying
decision. What do they get? What’s the customer
experience like? How will that lead to the
desired result of getting their problem solved?
An offer has to address what the investment is to
get the product or service being offered.
And you will generally increase response if you
add some guarantee or risk reversal linked
directly to the problem and the solution.
The best kind of guarantee in the situation is
going to acknowledge where the customer is
coming from. “You had XYZ problem, which you
wanted to have solved. You’re buying this
product or service as the solution to that. If it
does not solve that problem, you are out nothing.
You risk nothing, and you’re under no obligation
unless and until I help you solve that problem.”

31
You can make an offer more appealing by adding
something as a bonus at no extra cost that tips
the value even further in the customer’s favor.
In the context of the Ultimate Selling Story, you
make your decision about what to include by
asking yourself a couple of instrumental
questions.
What else can you add that adds to the core offer
without making the initial offer feel incomplete?
In other words, you don’t want to present your
solution and then as a bonus, add on something
else which makes it seem like maybe your initial
solution wasn’t enough to solve the problem.
You can also ask yourself what will help them
address the problem faster, easier, and cheaper.
Your initial solution is enough to address the
problem, but if you add some service on top, it
may help them solve it faster and easier, or at
less cost. This would make a nice bonus to add
to your offer.
Then another great way to think of what kind of
extra incentives you can add to an offer is to ask
the question, what new problem will be created
by solving the first? This shows that you’re
thinking ahead on their behalf.
A good example of this that most business people
and marketers would be familiar with is the
whole traffic and conversion conundrum on a
website. Most people, when they launch a new
website, are mostly concerned about getting lots

32
of visitors to that website. Well, if you offer a
solution which gets lots of visitors to somebody’s
website, they’re going to suddenly realize that
not a lot of those visitors are converting into
buyers. Your bonus, your addition, is going to
help them solve that problem and it makes a
natural next step without taking away from the
initial solution.
Finally, any good offer is going to give them a
reason to act now.
Consider whether you’re able to put a limited
time on the offer, present a limited quantity, or
somehow limit access. These are fairly obvious,
but they are not the only ways to add urgency to
your request for response.
Market-relevant urgency factors can be quite
powerful. I’ve written a lot for the investment
markets and the markets are always moving. If
the problem is being able to take advantage of an
investment opportunity that is particularly
attractive in today’s market, the urgency could
be that it’s not going to be as attractive in
tomorrow’s market.
You can also use personally-relevant urgency
factors. If your product solves a personal
problem which may come and go through
someone’s life, such as a relationship issue, then
having something tied to the personally relevant
situation that causes someone to be interested in
your product, causes them to seek out a solution
to their problem, that can be enough for urgency

33
in those situations. Or if it’s tied to a life event
such as school, moving, career changes, or other
similar event, that alone can be used as a
reference point to suggest urgent response.
No matter what you’re doing when you are
giving them a reason to act now, if your product
or service is a legitimate and superior solution to
the problem which exists in the marketplace,
you want to encourage action like their life
depends on it.
Do not be afraid of being assertive and direct
with asking somebody to take action right away.
Because if you legitimately have created the best
solution in the marketplace as defined by the
buying criteria you laid out and they agree with,
if they’re still with you at this point, then you
have every right to say, “Listen, this is your best
course of action, and it’s an action you need to
take now.”

34
Part III: 3 Pillars of Highly-
Effective Storytelling
If you followed the Ultimate Selling Story
template or formula in part two, you have a solid
narrative arc or story you can use in your
marketing and selling. However it’s delivered,
however you multiply it through media.
And yet, having the right story is only part of
being a highly-effective story seller. That is
someone who can consistently generate sales
results with the stories they tell.
Now I want to introduce to you a concept which,
in fact, I used to structure my entire Story Selling
Master Class. To give you a jumpstart into using
the Ultimate Selling Story in your selling and
persuasive messages.
As I was studying story selling, I realized the best
story sellers think way beyond the story itself.
In fact, if you want to use stories in any selling
context and any media, you are also going to
generate the best results by thinking beyond the
story itself. You also have to consider how the
story makes you appear in the customer’s eyes,
which I call character. And how that fits into a
broader persuasive context, which is selling.
The three pillars are Character, Story, and
Selling.

35
We will briefly address those here as a way to
help you move forward and get the biggest
results from using the Ultimate Selling Story.
Pillar I: Character
What is character? What does it represent? Why
is it so important in the context of story selling?
Well, the character is how people perceive you.
It’s the image of you that they have in their mind.
How they understand you in the greater context
of their relationship with you, with your
business, with your products and services.
You can bottle up a sales pitch and send it to a
market once, and make some sales and perhaps
even some profits.
The way you build an enduring business brand
and following is by having your market connect
with you. Not just respond to your selling
message.
When you focus on your character in the context
of story selling, you will stimulate and grow that
relationship every time you reach out and
connect with your market.
Many character types and archetypes are
naturally conducive to selling. Just like if you
study the hero’s journey for telling fiction
stories, you’ll discover that certain character
types and archetypes repeatedly appear
throughout those stories.
This book is meant to be a primer on The
Ultimate Selling Story, so we won’t go into all the

36
character types and which one might be the best
fit for you. I can tell you building the right
character for yourself, building the right persona
that your market recognizes in you, creates a
tribe, a group of true fans, who will consistently
respond to the value-based offers you put in
front of them.
Regarding branding or personal branding, this is
really what that is about. It’s not about the image
you put on your social media profile or the titles
you give yourself. It’s about your market’s
relationship with your character. If your
character, the persona you have created in the
market, is a good fit for your market, it will
firmly position you and establish your brand as
the preferred choice for whatever your product
or service is.
In selling, you’re probably familiar with the
concept of KLT: knowing, liking, and trusting. It’s
often thought, in the context of the statement,
your market will not buy from you until they
know, like, and trust you.
While you can be thoughtful in your story selling,
in telling the Ultimate Selling Story, do it in such
a way that it helps your market know you, know
what your internal struggles were as you were
faced with this problem.
By going through that narrative arc, they will
start to like you. They will start to like you
because they saw you struggle. They saw you go

37
through that internal and external journey to
solve the problem.
They will trust you because they’ll see how you
thought through the buying criteria that were
required to create an actual solution to the
problem that made sense.
All along the way, you are getting them to know,
like, and trust you, your character.
Or, if you’re telling the story in a case study, from
a customer’s perspective, your character may be
more of a benevolent leader or parent figure, as
an example. You helped them find their solution.
And this helpfulness makes you equally known,
liked, and trusted.
The good character should be a reflection of who
you are, but perhaps a little bit larger than life
when told through selling and marketing.
When you have done this right, what you’ll find
is that every piece of marketing you send out to
your prospects becomes more and more
effective. They’re not just in it for the product, or
the service, or the features, or the benefit, or
even the marketing message and the promises
you make.
They’re in it for you, and they’re buying you,
which is far stronger than anything else.
Pillar II: Story
The second pillar of the three pillars is story.
We spent most of this book talking about the
story, specifically talking about the Ultimate

38
Selling Story. The problem, agitate, invalidate,
solve, ask formula that is an outline and a
narrative arc that you can use to tell your story
or to tell your customer’s or client’s story in such
a way that it stimulates more prospects to want
to do business with you.
There are more than a dozen more specific story
selling templates which, if you are serious about
learning story selling, you will want to learn, use,
and apply.
The right story in the right context is the key to
using stories persuasively. There are questions
like, “How many stories should I use in one
presentation, or marketing message, or
promotion? Where should certain stories go in
my communications with customers based on
how long they’ve known me, how long they’ve
been doing business with me, how recently they
became a prospect?”
There are all sorts of questions, not just about
how to tell stories, but how to fit them into the
relationship such that you are building a
stronger relationship with your character
through time and generating maximum sales.
You need to think about these things as you’re
using the Ultimate Selling Story and as you’re
using additional story selling templates. And
how you can make the best use of different
stories to build that relationship and get
customers coming back over and over again to
buy from you.

39
Pillar III: Selling
Finally, that third pillar is selling.
When it all comes down to it, that’s what we’re
trying to do. We use stories because they connect
with our audience in a way which logical appeals
won’t, which simply talking about features and
benefits won’t.
Ultimately, stories must be relevant to the action
you want the prospect to take as a result of your
persuasive message.
Stories can be used throughout the sales process
to replace less compelling approaches.
An excellent example of that might be a
testimonial. A testimonial could be told in the
form of, “Oh, this person helped me get this
result.” Or it can be described in the form of
PAISA or the Ultimate Selling Story.
How are you using stories throughout the sales
process to replace less compelling approaches?
Think about that in the context of using the
Ultimate Selling Story in your next marketing or
advertising piece, in your next persuasive
message.
One final point, with regards to selling. The best
way to get good at story selling is to master a
small collection of stories to be used throughout
your marketing and selling whenever
appropriate.

40
That is, you want to develop a short list of
signature stories you tell over and over and over
again.
You may have your origin story, how you got
involved with your market in the first place.
You may have your inventor story, which is one
way to tell the Ultimate Selling Story.
You may have some case studies that you use
over and over again that are particularly good fit
because they speak to various segments of your
target market.
You may have any number of specific stories that
are the best fit for your business.
By developing a collection of those stories you
can use throughout your marketing, throughout
your advertising, throughout your persuasive
messages whenever you give a presentation,
whenever you speak to members of your target
market, you’re making your life far easier. And
you are working every time you tell those stories
again and again to build deeper relationships
with your market.
Plus, those same stories can become tools you
can pass on to your team. They can use them
one-on-one, or they can multiply them through
media, throughout your marketing, content, and
other selling messages.
Want to go deeper?
If you want to tell selling stories that get seven-
figure or greater results, it pays to go beyond

41
what you’ve learned here. It pays to pursue
mastery of the three pillars, and how different
templates and story formulas work best in
different selling contexts.
The best way to do that is with The Story Selling
Master Class, an in-depth program I delivered
going through the three pillars in incredible
detail and giving specific applications of story
selling principles throughout.
To learn more about the Story Selling Master
Class, visit StorySellingMasterClass.com

42
Appendix A:
This “hack” instantly makes you a
better writer, speaker, and
salesperson…
Today’s essay is going to be short and sweet.
This is because even though I’m publishing this
on a Friday afternoon, I’m writing it
uncharacteristically early, on Wednesday night.
Why? Because right about now, I should be
nearing the end of my second day at the Worlds
of Fun and Oceans of Fun amusement parks, in
Kansas City. Water slides, roller coasters, the
works. But mostly, some end-of-summer fun
with the family, and a memory that the kids can
cherish!
And so to make sure you got all the incredible
value I deliver to you this week and every other,
for FREE, I’m staying up late before hitting the
road to write an extra couple issues.
On to our topic…
So, you wanna be a better writer? Or speaker?
Or salesperson?
There’s one thing, above so many others, that
will make you more compelling. Interesting.
Engaging. Persuasive.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking to “sell”
in the sense of getting someone to give you

43
money in exchange for your products and
services.
Or simply looking to “sell” your ideas, to move
people to join you, in whatever cause.
This is universal!
In fact, you could call this a “hack” to instantly
elevate your ability at all these skills!
… At least, I called it a “hack!”
So, what is it?
I’ll give you 3 guesses.
And if any of them are “storytelling,” you’re
right!
But wait!
It’s NOT the kind of “storytelling” that makes
your palms get sweaty.
It’s not the kind your English teacher made you
do all those years ago.
It’s not the kind of story telling you’ve deemed
yourself a failure at, because your novel or
screenplay manuscript got rejected for the
umpteenth time.
The real “hack” is the discovery that
EVERYTHING IS STORY!
I barely told a story at the start of this email.
If you look at the details, it tells you I’m on a
family road trip, to a pair of amusement parks.
And that I’m writing on Wednesday night instead
44
of on Friday. And that I’m staying up late to get
this out to you.
I think even Jerry Seinfeld couldn’t find enough
there to make an episode out of. And he literally
made a show about nothing.
Yet…
When it comes to customer communication and
SELLING, even this nothing story does a lot.
• It makes me human — not a workaholic
robot.
• It tells you I’m enjoying my summer —
which is a generally likable thing to do.
• It reinforces to you that family is
important to me — which is an endearing
trait for most of my readers.
• It tells you that I’m dedicated to getting
these essays to you, enough so to stay up
late the night before a road trip.
• It reinforces all the value you get for free
every day of every week.
All of these things add another dimension to an
essay meant to teach you something. They
connect you with me. They help you to know,
like, and trust me.
And I use those words very specifically, because
they are critical in making the sale.
While mastery of story selling does involve
understanding stories and how to tell them, it

45
also involves waking up to the fact that the
“Everything is Story” hack is real.
It’s easy for novice writers, speakers,
salespeople, and other professional
communicators to skip this.
They focus on the message. If they’re teaching,
they focus on the points being taught. (I
admittedly do this from time-to-time — we’re all
human!)
Or, if you’re selling, maybe you focus on the
product or service — and its features and
benefits.
These things are well and good, but they are
lifeless on their own.
Even a mediocre story connects you with the
reader, and gets them interested enough to pay
attention to the rest of the message. In many
cases, is all you really need to stand out from the
crowd.
But tell enough okay stories, knowing that
“Everything is Story,” and something interesting
will start to happen.
The power of story will weave its way into
everything you do; every message you put out.
Then, you’ll start telling good stories; possible a
few great ones.
And the impact you make in your writing,
speaking, selling, communicating will be
tremendous.

46
And it all starts with that simple “hack.”
This article was originally published in Roy Furr’s
Breakthrough Marketing Secrets. Get proven
ideas to grow your business daily at
BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com.

47
Appendix B:
How to make a big sale believable
and compelling...
When I woke up at 4 AM on April 21st, 2016 it
was like any other early morning…
I stumbled sleepily into the master bathroom,
and kept the lights off so my eyes wouldn’t have
to adjust.
A minute later, I hear footsteps in our bedroom.
I assume it’s my wife, who is almost always up
before me, no matter how early I get up, and who
was already up this morning.
As I finish in the bathroom, I flush the toilet and
open the door.
A shadow bolts past me. A flashing red flashlight
in one hand, an iPad in the other…
I know in an instant it’s not my wife.
“WHO THE F@%K ARE YOU?!” I yell at the dark
shadow, a man, I guess from size and build.
I chase him toward the bedroom door.
From here, he has two directions. If he heads for
the front door, he’s out of the house, which is
exactly what I want right now. If he turns and
heads into the house, he could be headed for the
kids’ rooms or for my wife, wherever in the
house she is.

48
I don’t have to think. I make a split-second
decision.
I must engage him.
He’s running for the front door, and I start
landing punches.
1, 2, 3…
He’s reaching for the door handle, and I keep
hitting.
4, 5…
He gets through the door and drops the flashlight
as he runs across our front porch. He gets around
the railing, and bolts across our wet garden for
the street.
I watch him in the streetlight as he runs away
down the street.
My wife rushes upstairs, we call the cops.There a
patrol in the area. They get there almost
immediately. First one care; then five.
Since it was a crime “in progress” on a slow
spring morning, they have all the officers they
need.
While one officer talks me through what
happened and gathers evidence at the house,
others set up a perimeter around the
neighborhood.
Minutes later, they catch someone; presumably
the guy. He’s got a burglar kit on him in a

49
backpack ; the kinds of tools and accessories
you’d need to break in to houses.
But not our iPad. I was shaken, but by the time I
was starting work a couple hours later, I had a
plan.
It was pretty clear at this point that even if they
had caught the guy, our iPad was gone.
In fact, at breakfast we had to tell our kids what
happened and that their beloved “button” was
gone. (That’s long been our name for it since our
oldest saw the one button on it and called it
“button.”)
They were shaken by the fact someone had
broken into our house and impressed by the fact
I’d fought him off but devastated by the fact the
“button” was gone.
Then, I half-joked to my wife that I’d tell the
story to my Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
readers, and run a sale to buy a new iPad.
By about 10:15 AM, I’d written the email and put
the offer out.
It wasn’t long before I’d more than earned
enough to get a new iPad.
By the time the sale was over less than 48 hours
after the break-in, I’d actually earned enough off
the sale to buy more than a couple iPads.
My clients were happy, because they got a really
good deal (the sale was on my copy review
service). My kids were happy because we got a

50
new “button” out of the deal. And I was happy
that I could use my marketing skills to make us
“whole” again after this unfortunate incident.
And yet, there was something else that excited
me even more; the proof of the power of story!
While I half-realized what I was doing at the
time, in hindsight it was crystal-clear.
I had just run a “fire sale.”
That is, a business has a fire, the smoke damages
merchandise, but doesn’t destroy it. It needs to
be washed, but it’s basically “good as new.”
So they run a big sale.
It has a clear and compelling reason. It’s totally
believable. And, it’s clearly a short-term
opportunity that must either be seized or
missed.
Bill Glazer, once co-owner of Dan Kennedy’s
Glazer-Kennedy Inner Circle, once ran one of
these for his menswear business.
They’d had a sprinkler malfunction. The clothes
all got wet. Then, they dried. But they could no
longer be sold as new. His store did get an
insurance settlement, but they still had all those
clothes they couldn’t sell as new. So they ran a
“flood sale.”
As you might expect, they sold out!
These story-based sales are a breath of fresh air
in a world full of BS reasons for running a sale…

51
Compare this to the “3-Day Sale,” “Best Sale of
the Season,” and other obviously made-up sales
you can find in the ads in every Sunday’s
newspaper.
If you are believable, people will be more likely
to respond to you.
Sure, everybody loves a good deal. But when
there’s a solid “reason why” for the deal, it’s even
better.
So a flood, a fire, a burglar who stole your iPad…
Those are lemons, waiting to be turned into
lemonade by telling the story.
They give you a good reason to offer a big sale.
They make it believable. They make it
compelling. They make it urgent.
And they drive response.
Once you understand the power of story, you’ll
always be on the lookout for the next story like
this.
While I would prefer never to have our house
broken into again, once it happened and
everybody was safe, I was ecstatic for the
opportunity to tell the story.
That’s because I know the power of story in
marketing and selling.
I’ve learned story makes sales.
And, I know how to use a story like this to
actually drive purchases.

52
If you want the ability, in a pinch, to make back
the cost of a stolen iPad (and then some!), that’s
just part of what I teach with the Story Selling
Master Class.
For more information on the Story Selling Master
Class, visit StorySellingMasterClass.com.
This article was originally published in Roy Furr’s
Breakthrough Marketing Secrets. Get proven
ideas to grow your business daily at
BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com..

53
Appendix C:
The 3-Step Story Formula
Here’s an incredibly simple way to create
compelling stories and this comes straight outta
Hollywood.

Before that, from Vaudeville and Broadway.

Before that, Shakespeare.

Before that, the Ancient Greeks.

Before that, other brilliant storytellers.

In between, there were so many other cultures

and hubs of culture and storytellers that I’ve
completely glossed over and missed. In fact, you
could even suggest that this structure of a great
story is rooted in the human subconscious.

It’s something that we naturally recognize as

“right” when it’s there and subconsciously miss
when it’s not. If you do this right, your stories
will gel in the mind of the reader or listener or
watcher. If you screw it up, you’ll fail to engage,
motivate, captivate, and persuade but it won’t be
clear why. In fact, this touches on the very same
principles Joseph Campbell touched on in his
seminal work, The Hero With A Thousand Faces,
documenting the universality of human stories.
George Lucas directly and unabashedly ripped

54
off Campbell’s story structure in creating the
blockbuster Star Wars franchise ; a multi-billion-
dollar swipe!

No matter what template or story structure you

end up using, at its root should be the deeper
structure of…The 3-Step Story Formula!

I’ve written before about the structure of a good

magic trick, taken from the book and the movie,
The Prestige…

Every great magic trick consists of three parts or

acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The
magician shows you something ordinary: a deck
of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this
object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if
it is indeed real, unaltered and normal. But of
course it probably isn't. The second act is called
"The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary
something and makes it do something
extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret.
but you won't find it, because of course you're
not really looking. You don't really want to know.
You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet.
Because making something disappear isn't
enough; you have to bring it back. That's why
every magic trick has a third act, the hardest
part, the part we call "The Prestige".

This is nothing but an adaptation of Shakespeare

and his 3-Act plays.It’s nothing but an adaptation

55
of this universal 3-step story formula behind all
great story telling.

Step 1: The Setup

All great stories exist in context. They exist in a

time and place. They are full of characters living
their lives, not aware of what is about to happen
to them.

This is universal to adventure stories, hero’s

journeys, love stories, tragedies, the works…
We have to know what’s going on. And so the
beginning of the story is all about setting the
scene for what is to come.

This is where we form our initial bond with the

protagonist or the main character; the hero of
the story. We develop our natural attraction to
him or her and we see that they’re someone we
want to root for.

Step 2: Increasing Conflict

Here, the protagonist is taken out of the

ordinary, into a world of complexities and
challenges. They have a goal, but there are many
barriers standing in the way. Everything seems
to be going wrong. Their success is in doubt.If
something could go wrong, it will. And it’s not
long before everything seems lost.

56
Step 3: The Resolution

Just when we think the protagonist is doomed,

they bring it back from the brink and conflict is
resolved. Challenges are overcome and they
reach their goal and it changes their lives
completely.

There are a million ways to tell this story. I chose

to dramatize the example, because that version
of it is so universal. In The Prestige, the setup is
the pledge, the introduction of the ordinary
thing. The turn is the increasing conflict, where
you do something extraordinary. The prestige is
the resolution, where you bring it back.

In a tragedy, the resolution goes against the

protagonist, and the resolution reveals that they
will be consumed by the conflict and never reach
their goals.

In story selling, it’s a bit different. You’re not

telling the story exclusively to entertain. But you
can still apply the principle.

In the context of the Ultimate Selling Story, the

setup is the problem. This is where you
recognize the gap of a challenge to be overcome
or a desire unfulfilled. Next, you get increasing
conflict as you agitate the experience of the
problem and invalidate other potential solutions.
Finally, the resolution comes through the
solution. That’s part of what makes it so effective
57
it’s based on one of the most fundamental
narrative arcs in storytelling.

Here’s a good trick I once learned from John

Carlton. John Carlton is one of the most
successful copywriters alive today. He’s well-
respected among copywriters and
entrepreneurs. And he occasionally shares his
secrets.

He teaches a 3-sentence story trick. The idea is

to condense the guts of your story down to just 3
sentences. Each sentence follows a step of the 3-
Step Story Formula.

The Setup: When I came out of the master

bathroom at 4 AM, I saw a man streak by me, for
the front door ; a robber!

Increasing Conflict: I attacked the guy as he

tried to get out the front door; my iPad in hand,
landing a good 5 or 6 punches.

The Resolution: I watched him run away down

our street as my wife called the police who
responded quick and caught him before he left
the neighborhood.

Or

The Setup: Boardroom’s founder, Marty

Edelston, passed away before he could fulfill a

58
life goal of bringing together all his marketing
mentors for a big seminar.

Increasing Conflict: So his right-hand-man,

Brian Kurtz, reached out to all these top
marketing names — some of whom had retired
— to ask if they’d come together just once in
celebration of Marty.

The Resolution: One-by-one, the best said “yes,”

and The Titans of Direct Response turned into a
once-in-a-lifetime seminar. You get the point.
Once you get this, it’s incredibly easy to tell
compelling stories! That’s the power of formulas
and templates.

You don’t have to come up with awesome stories

out of nowhere. You simply have to look around,
because they’re already out there.Then, you start
to fill in details. You find a way to make The
Setup as compelling as possible, to get the
reader, listener, or viewer on the protagonist’s
side before the story really begins.

Then, you use Increasing Conflict to up the

emotional ante of the story, making the audience
root for the main character as they fight to
overcome the obstacles. Finally, you bring it to
an end with The Resolution, where challenges
are ended one way or another. It’s all about
fitting the details in, and telling them in the most
compelling way.

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The exact same thing applies to using Selling
Story templates, like The Ultimate Selling Story,
and the dozen-plus templates I shared as part of
the Story Selling Master Class.

For more information on the Story Selling Master

Class, visit StorySellingMasterClass.com.
This article was originally published in Roy Furr’s
Breakthrough Marketing Secrets. Get proven
ideas to grow your business daily at
BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com.

60
Appendix D:
5 lessons learned from the
Broadway show Hamilton about
story selling…
My wife, kids, and I are all big fans of Hamilton,
the musical. Shortly after it won a pile of Tony
awards, we picked up the Original Cast
Recording, and spent months with it pretty much
on repeat around the house, in the car, and in our
headphones.

Not only that, we bought the book, Hamilton: The

Revolution, too. Co-written with the musical’s
creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, it goes behind the
scenes and into his head through the creating
and staging of Hamilton, the musical. It’s an
incredible look into the brilliant mind of
Miranda, a genius storyteller who deserves all
the praise he gets.

And, as we’re wont to do when we discover

something new we like, we’ve also been scouring
YouTube and the internet for stories and clips
about the show, its creator, and anything and
everything related to it.(If you’ve ever heard the
statement, “a buyer is a buyer is a buyer,” this
definitely applies here!)

One of the things that I love about Miranda is

how transparent he is about his whole creative
process. He tells where his ideas come from.
61
Why he does things the way he does. Where he
was failing, and what changes he made to make it
successful. There’s a TON I could go into, and the
lessons are many-layered and plentiful.

But I picked out 5 lessons that Hamilton and

Miranda embody. These are about storytelling.
But telling a story in a way that totally captures
the imagination of an entire culture. And with
those lessons, I’ve included specific insights or
reflections — where relevant — on how to use
them in story SELLING as well as storytelling.

1. Follow your inspiration.

Lin-Manuel Miranda was reading Ron Chernow’s
biography of Treasury Secretary Alexander
Hamilton. That’s when the idea struck.
Alexander Hamilton embodied the hip-hop
ethos.

He was an outcast, orphan immigrant with a

feisty spirit. He wanted to fight for freedom,
fight for the revolution, fight for anything. He
talked fast and thought faster. He was a man of
ideas and ambition. He was aimed for the top,
and he was not throwing away his shot. (He also
died in a blaze of glory, in a duel with Vice
President Aaron Burr.)

Miranda saw so many parallels between

Hamilton and his favorite hip-hop artists, he
actually assumed someone had already found a
way to tell Hamilton’s story through hip-hop. By
62
the end of Chapter 2 of the biography, he was on
his phone scouring Google, looking for any
evidence.

When he discovered nobody had, yet, he called

the ball. He would create a hip-hop concept
album to tell Hamilton’s story. A couple songs
written, he got a chance to perform a demo track
at The White House. That went over so well, he
couldn’t NOT keep developing it. And it grew
and grew until it was obvious: this would be
Miranda’s second Broadway musical. (He’d
gotten a Tony for his musical In The Heights at
about this time.)

It all came down to Miranda finding inspiration

in a story, and wanting to tell it in his way. Many
of my biggest-selling promotions have hit me the
very same way. I find a story with a connection
to the offer I’m going to make. I follow the
inspiration to tell it. And it’s a winner.

2. Find your big idea, your concept.

This is so closely paralleled to the previous point
that it barely counts as its own. But it does also
stand alone. Miranda was inspired by Hamilton’s
story. But that’s because it was such a great
story already.

Orphaned and poor, but obviously ambitious and

headed somewhere, his community sent him
from the Virgin Islands where he was born (a

63
stop in the slave trade) to New York to make a
new life for himself.
As an immigrant with a chip on his shoulder, he
was always fighting to prove himself.
And it was this drive, this ambition that shaped
our early government, and our early financial
system.

But all along the way, he faced challenges, toils,

and strife. He made a lot of waves, upset a lot of
boats, and made a lot of enemies. Eventually, it
was his undoing.

Orphan immigrant comes to America to make a

name for himself. He fights his way to the top,
even in the midst of political infighting, the
consequences of his own infidelity, and personal
squabbles. He succeeds in shaping our early
government and financial system, before one of
his feuds comes back around and ends it all.

Miranda recognized an incredible story line.

Then, it was up to him to tell it in the most
compelling way.

3. Give meaning to what you’re doing.

The concept and big idea are what’s happening
on the outside. But there’s a whole other level to
the best stories, and that’s the inner conflict and
narrative. This is where a story gets its meaning.
Hamilton’s story was one of the underdog
orphan facing the odds and triumphing over
them.
64
This is one of the most universally compelling
internal journeys in all of storytelling (notice
how nearly every Disney story is about an
orphan, or at least someone who has been
abandoned).

What’s the inner journey of the character or

narrator of your story? What change takes place
in their thoughts and feelings by the time the
story is done?

While the big idea and concept have to be

compelling in themselves, it’s the emotional sub-
narrative that will make the story stick.
For selling, the emotional hook is everything.

Find a way to make your character compelling,

interesting, and attractive to your prospects. Get
them emotionally involved. To overcome
adversity and abandonment is a very effective
way to do this. Maybe we’re not literally
orphans, but perhaps we’ve been orphaned in
another way.

It’s been said many times that people buy based

on emotion, and justify it with logic. This is what
will make people buy.

4. Use the most compelling voice.

Miranda didn’t set out to write a hip-hop
musical.

65
In fact, when he decided to tell Hamilton’s story,
he wasn’t even meaning to write a musical at all.
But he saw a parallel. Hamilton was a critical
part of the American Revolution. He lived it from
his formative years until his death.
Hip-hop is the music of a cultural revolution. In
Miranda’s mind, Hamilton was hip-hop.It didn’t
matter that there were hundreds of years
between. Hamilton embodied the essence of hip-
hop.

So Miranda decided to write Hamilton, in hip-

hop. It evolved into a show. In hindsight, it’s
absolutely a first-of-its-kind.I read an analysis
last night that Hamilton has over 20,000 words.
No other popular musical has come close. The
speed of ideas, words, and lyrics is off-the-charts
for Broadway. The average words per minute is
nearly double that of the closest major musical.
And at its fastest, lyrics are coming at you at
about 200 words per minute.

But, to Miranda’s point, you couldn’t tell this

story in quite any other way. When you find the
right idea, and the right inspiration, go with
whatever voice makes the most sense. I’ve
written in many different voices, to fit the unique
context.

It’s all about matching the story to the market to

the offer to the media. Find the sweet spot, and
go in it. To do otherwise just wouldn’t make
sense.
66
5. Build tension through struggle and conflict.
The final lesson I’ll share that’s woven
throughout Hamilton is conflict. No story feels
complete without conflict; without fights of some
kind or without having to overcome great odds.
At least no epic, emotionally-moving story does.

Hamilton fights to overcome his poverty; his

orphan status; his immigrant background. He
fights to overcome getting pegged as a secretary,
when he really wants to fight. He fights for the
girl. He fights against slavery. He fights for his
ideas, to get them implemented during the war.
Then he fights to be a part of Washington’s new
government. He’s fighting for the presidency,
when he suddenly has to fight to keep any shred
of his reputation because of past mistakes. He
fights in his writing, and he fights in real life. He
fights an old acquaintance who suddenly stole
his Father-In-Law’s senate seat; he fights that
same acquaintance in a pistol duel over ever-
increasing beef between the two.

All along, there is conflict, tension, and unrest.

That’s exactly what makes us root for him. In
selling, fighting against the same conflicts and
struggle your prospect faces instantly aligns your
interests with theirs. Plus it makes your story
more interesting. Maybe you don’t need to do it
at quite the same level in selling as you do in
straight story telling (unless it’s relevant). But if
you adopt the mindset while not forgetting that

67
your real job is to sell, you can probably push
that line without pushing it too far.

Final thought: Selling is entertainment.

I don’t think I’ve clearly stated this, in this way,
before. When we make a sale, it’s because our
prospect gets positive feelings from their
interaction with us.

In essence, that is the goal of entertainment.

Now, I’m not advocating offbeat, humorous ads
that forget their role as a selling tool. But if you
entertain while delivering a sales message,
you’re going to get a lot more buy-in than if you
don’t.

That’s why studying fiction, theatre and other

story telling can be such a boon to your selling.
Because when you learn how to capture, hold,
and carry the attention of an audience, you’ve
gone a long way toward getting that audience to
take action and take you up on your offer.

This article was originally published in Roy Furr’s

Breakthrough Marketing Secrets. Get proven
ideas to grow your business daily at
BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com.

68
Appendix E:
Find the selling story by working
backwards…
Let’s talk about how to tell selling stories that
weave perfectly into your offer!
First, I want to talk about the WRONG way to
pick the stories you’re going to tell in your selling
message.
And in fact, this is more in lines with the
“creative” approach, rather than the systematic,
sales-focused approach that I teach and
recommend.
So here’s the wrong way…
You find a story YOU are very excited about…
You find a story that excites YOU…
You find a story YOU want to tell…
And, you tell it.
Maybe you’re inspired by Hollywood, so you’re
looking to tell a version of the hero’s journey.
Maybe it’s unrelated to that, but you have a
favorite story about your family, or a slice of life
story, or something else.
Then, as you’re putting together your marketing
piece, your sales letter, your webinar script, your
speech, whatever… You stick that story in there.
Then, you have to find a way to connect the dots
back to your offer.
69
You find it’s hard. Sure, that story may be
compelling. People may like it. They may laugh,
or cry. It may generate an emotional response.
But, it doesn’t generate a business response. It
doesn’t bring the prospect any closer to doing
business with you. It doesn’t persuade them to
take action.
You have trouble making more than a cursory
link back to your sales pitch. You can’t really tie
it into the offer. And it doesn’t really feel like
your prospect is any closer to the sale as a result
of reading or hearing the story.
What gives?!
It’s because you approached the decision about
which story to tell from the FRONT, not the
BACK.
While it may seem perfectly normal to start with
the story, that’s NOT the most effective way to
approach story selling!
The best way to find the perfect selling stories is
to work backwards from the offer!
For example, when I sat down to write the sales
letter for Brian Kurtz’s Titans of Direct Response
event, one of the big first questions that I had to
ask was, “What am I selling?”
And here, I’m not even talking about the benefits.
We get to the benefits eventually. I’m talking
about what product or service the customer
actually gets when they buy from us.

70
The answer was a 2-day seminar, featuring some
of the biggest names in direct response
marketing, hosted by Brian Kurtz when he was
still Executive VP at Boardroom. And the cost
was $3,500.
This is all very feature-oriented.
Pretty compelling features, if you know what
you’re getting, but still just features.
Then I started to think, with Brian (and David
Deutsch, who helped early in the project), what
that would mean to the buyers.
Well, even one idea from one of the greats has
the potential to completely transform your life.
A few minutes, listening to them speak, in
conversation in the hallways, asking an
important question… It could multiply your
marketing results, your career, your business.
Even a slight shift in perspective, in the world of
direct response, can move mountains. (Of cash!)
And so as I’m thinking about this, I’m thinking
about all I know about Boardroom. I’ve been a
student of the industry, so I know a lot.
Also, I’m asking Brian questions, trying to get the
best ideas out of him.
I’m coming at it from lots of angles.
I’m sorting through far more that I will never use
than what I will.
Then, I remember.

71
When Marty Edelston, in whose honor Titans
was being held , started Boardroom, he’d hired
copywriter Eugene Schwartz really early on to
write a sales letter that pretty much launched
the company.
Marty had been doing okay before that, but once
Gene wrote his letter, Boardroom started its
growth trajectory that would take them to over
$100 million per year.
Well, I dug up the details on the story.
I found out that Marty spent 70% of the money
left in his business bank account to hire Gene. It
was the equivalent of $9,000 today. But he
wrote the check without flinching. He knew the
value of investing in Titans.
They spent 4 hours together. From that 4 hours,
Gene was able to give Marty the headline and ad
that would go on and put Boardroom on the map.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Notice how the details tie back into my selling
goal. I told this story at the beginning of the
letter for Titans. By the end, I’m going to ask
readers to invest in spending a few hours (2
days) with Titans. I’m not going to ask them to
invest $9,000, but the total investment isn’t
chump change, either.
I’m going to ask them, throughout the letter, to
believe that spending this time with these
Eugene-Schwartz-level Titans will change their
life.

72
I made all those points through Marty’s story,
without having to come out and say them.
And it’s because I knew to work backwards from
the offer I was making, and find the details for
my story that would justify my prospects to
invest in what I’m selling them.
This is a huge difference between storytelling
and story selling. They’re very different
disciplines. Wit has very different rules and best
practices.
This article was originally published in Roy Furr’s
Breakthrough Marketing Secrets. Get proven
ideas to grow your business daily at
BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com.

73
Don’t forget!
Even though you’re done with the book, your
story selling mastery is just beginning. Take
your next step with these additional resources…

FREE Companion Template and Training

 Go to: StorySellingTemplate.com
This book comes with a companion template you
can use as a shortcut and easy one-page
reference guide, the next time you’re crafting
your version of The Ultimate Selling Story.
Plus, you’ll also get a free and exclusive video
workshop on advanced story selling techniques.
Get both FREE at: StorySellingTemplate.com

Go Deep & Develop Story Selling Mastery

 Go to: StorySellingMasterClass.com
If you’re serious about building your storytelling
and persuasion skills, you shouldn’t stop with
The Ultimate Selling Story.
Go deep on each of the 3 Pillars of Highly-
Effective Story Selling and develop mastery of
story-based persuasion.
Learn more at: StorySellingMasterClass.com

74