Story Teller.

The return on investment of a good story surrounding brand, product and services, is hard to define and apportion a monetary value. Companies all agree, capturing the consumer's heart can lead to a lifetime of loyalty for their product but they are resistant to the persuasive power of a compelling story because its hard to evaluate the numbers, the dollars and the ROI of the time it takes to craft such a story . How do you show the value of a good brand story, a good experience story, CEOs agree image and brand have a clear business advantage but what do they show the board in return for putting the story teller front and centre? Putting a value on a beautiful sunrise is often quoted as being easier than getting companies to agree on the ROI of a good story.

The website significantobjects.com, put together a compelling case for the value of stories when they decided to evaluate the worth, bottom line, that can be directly attributed to a powerful story. An accumulation of items bought at thrift shops, garage sales and flea markets for no more than a few dollars each, was listed on eBay for significantly more than their original price. A hundred items listed and sold on eBay made an average increase in price of 2,700%, from a medium purchase price of $1.29 to a resale average price of $36.12. This was accomplished by surrounding the various pieces listed, with stories bathing the objects in history and heritage as only a good fictional writer could do. It was a micro example of objectifying the value of a good story with a measurable bottom line increase.

Direct Marketing News forecast 2012 to be the year of the story, while Fast Company, The New York York Times and global 500 companies have all given credence to the power of story tellers. Story telling as communication, has given companies, especially online giants Google and Amazon, a breadth of character not usually associated with bits and bytes, whereas companies like Nike and Apple have used stories for leadership and loyalty, leading to dominant market connections with their customers.

It's no longer a one way dialogue as customers engage with the stories, remember the stories, re tell the stories and most likely make a movie and put it on YouTube. Have a look at "the Lego Story" on YouTube, celebrating 80 years of innovation, family history, quality of design and you'll see the power of story telling giving the next generation of children a start on their own stories. From YouTube to Pinterest, through to Tumblr "Storyboards" and on to Canon's Imagin8ion using Ron Howard as a catalyst to tell stories through pictures, companies are seeing the worth of the story teller.

Yet with all the new technology available to story tellers, the verbal story, the narrative given by a charismatic leader remains one of the most powerful tools and companies recognise the influence and inspiration to be gained. The rarity of such leaders has led many a company to search outside their core competency to look for the more engaging, the more beguiling of individuals who are then brought up to speed on the company product. Where product and service can be taught, telling the story has become an art, hopefully not lost on the world of business.