Storytelling for trust. In 2001, I gave up television. I haven't owned a TV since but a couple years ago, I got a little addicted to YouTube. I discovered the late night show with Jimmy Fallon. And I started watching an interview with the actor Will Smith. After a few minutes, I'm thinking, wow, Will Smith is a great guy.
He sounds like a great parent. He's real. He's reasonable. He's, he's trustworthy. At this point, I catch myself you know, thinking all these thoughts and I'm thinking, Wait, wait, wait a second. I'm thinking all of this based on 10 minutes of an interview.
Why in the world to Will Smith just do to program my brain to think like this? He told stories. Jimmy Fallon asked this question. Will Smith shoes 22nd story ask another question. Will Smith shares another story? And within 10 minutes Kevin Raven, who is not even a fan of Will Smith is thinking, Will Smith is a great guy.
Amazing. No, I wish I could do that. So what is the principle behind this? Will Smith can't walk onto the late night show with Jimmy Fallon and say, Hey, world, I'm a good guy. And you should like me. But he can tell a few good stories.
And then we will come to the conclusion ourselves, which is way better. That Will Smith. Will Smith is a good guy. Now, Will Smith can't buy that publicity? Will Smith can't tell me. Hey, Kevin, you know, don't read all that stuff on the tabloids don't believe it, you know, but he can tell a better story that will supplant the tabloid story in my mind.
And when I come to my own conclusion without Will Smith convincing me. I'm not going to change that conclusion. But we're the opposite of Will Smith. When people ask us Hey, Kevin, how you been? We say, Oh, yeah, great, great. Good.
Or people ask us, you know, how is your family? We say, Oh, yeah, my wife, she's really good. You know, kids great. Or people ask us, you know, How's work? You say, Oh, I'm busy. Yeah.
But that's not how Will Smith would answer. We just squandered three opportunities to tell a story and build trust. So we squandered three opportunities to connect with people. When people ask you, how is your family? They're not asking you for an answer. They're actually asking you to tell a story.
So let's tell a story. If If you want to build trust minutes, not hours, weeks years, then tell a vulnerable story. Now, all of us have heard you know, the only way to build trust is over lots of time, maybe two years before a client is really going to trust you. And, but then you got to make sure you deliver every time. But this is the standard pastes. And in the words of Derek Severs the standard pace is for chumps.
But what if we could build trust in 10 minutes? Is it possible? And I trusted Will Smith in 10 minutes and I thought of people that I've met and I trusted in 10 minutes. So what did they do differently? Usually, they told a vulnerable story that reveals something about who they are when nobody else is watching. So for example, on the late night show, Will Smith will share a story about what he and his family son who's in kind of up and coming movie start talking about when no one's watching behind closed doors.
He said, You know, I tell my son, when you're doing movies, keep remembering. It's about loving people. Don't do movies for your ego, it'll mess you up. Your art is a gift to people to help their lives. So when I hear that little 22nd story, I'm thinking, Will Smith is solid, you know, I trust him. So next time you're asked, how's your family?
Don't say good. Do what Will Smith us. Tell them a conversation you had behind closed doors? Or next time you're asked I was word, don't say busy. Tell them one thing you're excited about. And you will build trust because people will get you not something that You could call it a computer to say