What if I told you the difference between words that get ignored and words that change lives comes down to just two words?
Not “once upon.” Not “the end.”
Two little connectors that most people overlook: ‘but’ and ‘therefore’.
Stay with me because this is the hinge between someone forgetting your message and someone retelling it a decade later.
Timelines Don’t Persuade
Most people confuse stories with timelines.
“And then this happened. And then that happened.”
That isn’t a story. That’s a diary entry. And diaries don’t sell products, inspire movements, or change behavior. As we mentioned in “I Think I Swallowed An Elephant: The Stories We Sell, The Success We Sell,” this is often how kids tell stories.
Stories do.
Our brains look for cause and effect, not chronology. Your audience isn’t asking, “What came next?” They’re asking, “Why does this matter? What happened because of it?”
That’s why you can watch a three-hour movie without glancing at your phone, but you’ll abandon a dull PowerPoint in three minutes flat.
The Hidden Rhythm of Persuasion
Every great story that sells has three ingredients: context, conflict, and consequence.
First, you set the stage. Who, where, when. This gives the listener bearings.
But then comes the heartbeat: conflict.
“He wanted to launch early, but the research revealed hesitation.”
Conflict makes us lean in. It creates tension. Without it, there’s nothing at stake.
And then comes the consequence.
“He delayed the launch; therefore, he redesigned the onboarding.”
One “but.” One “therefore.” Suddenly, random events become a chain of meaning.
Our brains love this rhythm. It creates anticipation. It builds momentum. It turns passive listeners into active participants.
Emotion Glues It All Together
But let’s not stop there.
Facts tell you what happened. Feelings let you live it.
Neuroscience proves it. Mirror neurons make your brain light up when you hear someone describe their fear, joy, or relief. You don’t just process the words, you experience a shadow of the emotion yourself.
That’s why when I tell you I felt my stomach tighten waiting for my first Amazon review, part of you feels that same twist in your gut.
It’s why Harley-Davidson doesn’t sell motorcycles. They sell the feeling of freedom. It’s why Patagonia doesn’t sell jackets. They sell the feeling of responsibility.
Emotion is the adhesive. It’s what makes stories unforgettable.
Definition of a Good Story
So let’s strip it down.
A story is something that happened to someone, in a time and place, told vividly and with emotion, where each moment flows into the next through “but” and “therefore,” not “and then.”
Simple. Sharp. Sticky.
Why Amazon Banned Bullet-Point Decks
When Jeff Bezos banned bullet-point slides in favor of written narratives at Amazon, the world thought he was eccentric. He wasn’t.
He understood this: bullet points are facts in isolation. Stories are facts in motion.
Bullets transfer information, stories transfer experience.
And when you transfer experience, you create alignment. Everyone in the room doesn’t just understand the data; they feel the decision.
That’s persuasion architecture in action.
From Stories to Sales: The Psychology of Buying
Here’s the part most marketers miss.
People don’t buy because of logic. They buy, then justify with logic later.
They buy because of stories.
A story about a product isn’t really about the product. It’s about the customer’s journey, fears, desires, and transformation.
That’s why “20% off” rarely moves hearts. But a story about how one customer finally stopped waking up with back pain after trying your mattress? That sells.
It’s not about what you sell. It’s about the story customers tell themselves after they buy.
The But/ Therefore Test for Your Marketing
Want to know if your copy has a story or just a list? Run this test.
Take your messaging and try to connect the sentences with “and then.” If it works, you don’t have a story.
Now try to connect them with “but” and “therefore.” If it flows, you’ve got momentum.
Example:
“Our software helps teams collaborate better. But remote workers still struggled with meeting overload. Therefore, we built AI summaries that cut meeting times in half.”
That’s a story. That’s persuasion.
Words That Shape Worlds
Your words don’t just describe reality. They shape it.
If you say, “Our customers are cheap,” you’ll treat them one way. If you say, “Our customers are careful decision-makers,” you’ll treat them differently.
Change the story you tell, and you change the behavior that follows.
I’ve seen companies multiply their revenue not because they changed the product, but because they changed the story they told about the product.
The story you tell isn’t just a tool. It’s your strategy.
This Matters More In an AI-Dominated World
We live in a distracted age. Dashboards, notifications, and vanity metrics fragment our attention.
But stories cut through.
They surprise Broca’s area of the brain, the filter that tunes out noise. A good story sneaks past defenses. It makes us stop scrolling. It makes us listen.
That’s why every pitch, every presentation, every ad needs to start not with “what,” but with “who, where, when, but, therefore, and how it felt.”
That’s how you create momentum. And momentum is contagious.
Give Me Stories that Sell
Stories aren’t decoration. They aren’t fluff.
They are the engine of persuasion, the architecture of memory, the bridge between belief and behavior.
Want to inspire action? Don’t give me a timeline. Don’t give me bullets. Give me a story with people, conflict, consequence, and emotion.
Because stories don’t just tell us what happened, they tell us why it matters.
And that changes everything.
