Start with stories. In your business plan, your presentation, and even your elevator pitch, always start with a story about who needs what you’re selling. Needs and wants are the biggest thing in business, so make that come alive.

Ralph promised his wife Mabel that he’d get new suits before his London trip, but Mabel normally goes with him to the stores and she’s been busy with their daughter and new grandson, and Ralph hates shopping. His solution, for this and his long-term need for a steady supply of good-looking clothes befitting his position as president and founder, is The Trunk Club. He doesn’t have to shop, his clothes will fit, he’ll be able to just call the club and ask for what he needs, whether it’s business casual, office suits, or formal, or even golf and hiking. He’ll be in style and matched and he won’t have to worry about it. And he won’t have to go into a store either. With apologies to the founders of the Trunk Club, I just made that story up to illustrate a point. That one paragraph does a decent job, in my opinion, at setting up the market need, the target market, and the business offering. They have one of the more interesting new businesses I’ve seen lately. The plan and the presentation and the elevator pitch could begin with this story.

Linda’s been dreaming about and thinking about the business she wants to start. Sometimes she can’t sleep at night for thinking about it. Will people want what she’s selling, she asks herself? How many? How much will they pay? What’s the right equipment to start? Can I afford it? What will I need to spend to get going, then what will I need to spend on people, rent, and so on as I start? How much will it cost me to build what I’m delivering? Can I make an offering that will be attractive to outside investors? Finally Linda gets Business Plan Pro and starts working, building the plan. She takes it a topic at a time, a step at a time, she jumps around the different projections and concepts. Now when she wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about it, she has a plan underway, somewhere to put those thoughts down. Now she has a much better idea of what she needs, how long it might take, what the key points are.

Leslie and Terry both work, and they also both care very much about creating the right home life for their two children, three and one years old. When they shop for groceries they always go to the more health-oriented grocery store. They buy organic, they cook organic, but they don’t always have the time to cook. They hate giving their kids the foods they can get delivered, and they hate giving their kids the meals they can pick up. Then they discover a new business that prepares healthy family meals and sells a subscription plan. Terry stops by several days a week to pick up the family dinner on the way home from work. What business is this story for? You tell me; I’m just thinking here about a problem that needs solving. It’s about telling the story. That makes a business plan come alive.

One final example, this one a true story:

I spent most of Thursday and Friday last week at the University of Notre Dame with seven other people reviewing more than 60 executive summaries submitted to the two Notre Dame venture competitions – the McCloskey Business Plan Competition and the newer Sustainable Social Venture Competition. As part of this we reviewed two otherwise equal executive summaries. One starts with the founder’s story of how he had this problem nobody could solve. That one scored significantly higher than the other one, which was relatively similar on all other noticeable points.

This story idea isn’t new. For more on how to do it, try reading Made to Stick or All Marketers are Liars. What’s new here is that I’ve experienced another example of how much difference this tactic can make. Turn your core marketing strategy into a story, and then tell that story first.