The Persuasion Story Code: The Magic of Conversational Storytelling

“If you want to change society, tell an alternative story.” That famous quote is from Austrian theologian Ivan Illich. I like that quote a lot. It’s inspiring. It’s poetic. And it’s pithy. All things writers like me, tend to love. But I’m not an ordinary writer. I’m a copywriter. Specifically, I’m a direct-response copywriter. And a copy chief in the highly competitive field of financial publishing. And while the quote from Illich is artistic and lofty in aspiration… It has absolutely zero real-world value to the stories I write every day. The stories I write can’t be artful and idealistic — empty of substance and change. No. The stories I write have to shock… inform… compel, and, most importantly, PERSUADE people to BUY. David Garfinkel will show you how to write these types of stories in his masterful new book, “The Persuasion Story Code.” Inside “The Persuasion Story Code,” David provides a cornucopia of story-selling frameworks. 25 of them in fact. Each one of these 25 mini-story frameworks will help you engage, convince, and move the sale forward. If not, close it completely. Each story has a structure: A beginning, middle, and end. And each story has several necessary components. Including… Characters: The people — your prospect and guru. Conflict: The challenge or problem your prospect wants to solve. And a Resolution: The action of, or progress towards, buying your solution. And each story can make you RICH. This is where David clearly distinguishes between “story” and “$tory.” “Story” is what you read in Shakespeare, The Brothers Grimm, or in a good Lee Child thriller. It also embodies the soul of communication described in the Illich quote above. These “stories” are usually broad, archetypal narratives. That try to impart some life lesson. But they don’t have any significant personal application. David uses the film Rocky as an example of these types of successful Hollywood stories. Sure, Rocky is inspiring, entertaining, and captivating. It’s a great underdog story and one of my top three favorite movies of all time. Along with The Shawshank Redemption and A Bronx Tale. But each of these films was written to entertain and to provide an escape from reality. Not to ENGAGE reality. That’s where David exposes the fault in following Joseph Campbell's seminal work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Because while Campbell’s work serves the purpose of screenwriters and fiction authors… It has little bearing on crafting stories in business. That’s precisely the problem David solves in his new book. Because the 25 story frameworks David covers include stories about: • How to build trust. • How to explain your product. • How to identify with the emotional needs of your prospect. • How to differentiate your offer from all other alternatives. • And how to reveal an unexpected benefit. Among many more. All 25 stories are short, engaging, and immediately practical in a real-world sales scenario. You can place them at the beginning of a sales letter or presentation. Or towards the offer section, right before your CTA. And you can stack them on top of each other, almost in perfect sequence, to craft a comprehensive sales argument. So, whether you sell face-to-face, through the written word, from the stage, screen, or over the phone… David’s new book, “The Persuasion Story Code,” will give you the ULTIMATE “cheat code” for conversational selling. Joshua Lee Henry

We all use casual stories every day to persuade people... our kids, spouses, colleagues, students, shopkeepers, etc. But we do it without thinking... which can often cause a "foot-in-the-mouth" situation. Now, with David Garfinkel's "Story Code," you have at your fingertips 25 formulas with endless combinations for planning, crafting, and creating persuasive stories on demand. There's nothing else like this anywhere... at least, I've never seen anything even as close to exhaustive or as helpful. Though it is exhaustive, it is a quick read, easy to understand, and endlessly helpful (no exaggeration, because mathematically, combining and re-combining various elements of the 25 formulas makes these combinations endless). In my two careers--first as a full-time composer, and now as a full-time marketer and copywriter--the use of story is critical. Whether I'm trying to persuade an audience with notes or words, when a reader/listener gets into the stories I tell, they persuade themselves and I don't have to do any hard selling whatsoever. Up until now, I just made it up as I went along. But now, I can craft a story in advance and test its strength before I show up in front of my audience to be sure the story I'm telling is as persuasive as possible. If you engage with people in any capacity at all, this book can help you quickly discover how to make friends, influence people, persuade them to your cause, and even enjoy buying what you're selling... all through the power of casual, stories built with the "Story Code."

There was nothing to dislike. I loved this book...this is an easy to digest manual on how to create and format stories to persuade targets to say "yes", whatever it is you need them to say "yes" to. As an experienced, working b2b copywriter, I've read, studied, collected and USE many different types of proof points and persuasive techniques. The information in this book is instantly usable, and will be extremely valuable to me and my clients. I rate it as one of the top 10% resource books in my library, of any kind. (and I have a LOT of books). Great job, David!

As someone who's been in copy for a while, most of the contents were familiar, but it's a great resource for beginners, and still a valuable resource as a catalog of persuasion strategies.

When it comes to storytelling, “The Persuasive Story Code” did a masterful job of taking it from the hero’s journey down to the barstool. Whether we realize it or not, we’re using persuasive stories hundreds of times a day. In this book, David just gives you the tools to do it successfully. He breaks persuasive stories down to their essential building blocks in a way only he can. (Side note: His superpower of breaking down and codifying persuasion is one of the things that makes his Copywriters Podcast one of the biggest hidden gems out there.) I ripped through this book in a day or two, but this will absolutely be one I’ll take off the shelf time and again to reference as I’m writing. Can’t recommend this one enough.

David breaks down all the different types of stories used to make money. Each chapter is devoted to a different type of story (or sometimes more than one), with examples, explanations of how it's used, and most critically, a formula (itemized list) that you can follow to write your own! If you're not sure what type of story to use or need a guide to get started writing one, this is a great book to have on hand.

David Garfinkel's The Persuasion Story Code is the deepest and most thoughtful look at what makes a good story stick in a reader's mind that I've read. He's achieved something valuable and lasting with this book. In an age of unlimited content, messages easily get confused and twisted. David's work in The Persuasion Story Code cuts through and clarifies how to better build trust, credibility, and commonality. If you create for a living, if you market a product or service, or if you just want to know how to be more likeable and relatable in everyday conversation, study this book.

I’ve been writing copy for 15 years and I’ve never seen or heard anyone explain persuasive stories so well. And to break them down into so many story types is amazing. Even the best of us get stuck using the same story type over and over. This book was a nice slap across my brain to remind me there are so many great ways to tell persuasive stories.

As a small business owner, this book has been an invaluable guide in helping me create better copy for an origin story in the About section in my website, as well as the beginning of a new sales letter I’m working on, using pain the prospect is experiencing. Garfinkel is a steady hand and I love the Cheat Sheet free download which crystallized it all in one place.

I left school at 17 years old and soon after got a low-paid job that allowed me to rent a house with my friend. I had to work long hours during the day, and any spare money I had was spent on learning to drive because I knew that would allow me to earn more money. This decision landed me in a little bit of debt. I did this because I knew I could make more money if I learned to drive. When I finally passed my test, I got a gig delivering pizzas which paid more than my day job but my aspiration was always to start my own business. Even though I was working every waking hour I still couldn't afford my bills. I dreamed about climbing the career ladder and one day learning a skill that would allow me to start my own business. I thought about becoming a plumber or electrician at one point. What I wanted was some sort of skill I could sell to others and because I had an interest in computers, I gravitated towards online marketing. I learned about SEO, PPC and social media marketing from blog posts and YouTube. The biggest challenge was not knowing which content to trust as there was so much conflicting info out there. It took a long time to know who to trust. What I learned helped me land an entry-level job as an SEO/PPC Exec. 12 years later I started my own business and tonight I celebrated hitting a revenue goal my business partner and I had in mind. We now have 11 people in total working for my business, and due to demand, I need to recruit again. A few months ago I bought your book, and while reading it, I thought to myself that I wish somebody handed me your book earlier on my journey because that would have made things so much easier. I had to put an incalculable amount of time into trying to learn half as much as you've packed into a single chapter. What you teach in your book can help people regardless of their career choice. If somebody works in sales, marketing or advertising they will get something from it. People pay $20,000 for online courses that teach them how to sell online. You can get just as much value, if not more, for under $20 by getting your book. I wanted to write this post to show my appreciation for the time and effort that you've put into producing something genuinely spectacular.

JUST WOW... A simple yet effective guide to build stories from the scratch.

Excellent investissement !

... as a Kindle. The problem is this... On a Kindle you can't hi-lite all the good stuff in bright yellow. And there's a lot of that. You can't scribble "Read this AGAIN!" in the margins. And you can't scrawl "FFS!" on the pages. So now I have to buy it as a book as well. Well worth every cent. This is a keeper for sure. Brilliant. You'll not spending any money on this book. (Kindle or otherwise.) You'll recoup your *tiny* INVESTMENT thousands of $$$s over. Thank you David G. Norm MacLoud. (DR Copywriter)