There may no more powerful communication tool than a story well told. A story is not a PowerPoint presentation or a canned pitch or a memorized speech. It is as it sounds: a plain English parable with a beginning, middle, and end.
Stories help people understand and make sense of what you are selling. A compelling story can make the abstract understandable. Ditch the product specifications and data sheets. Instead, share your favorite experience with the new product.
Top salespeople can build trust and credibility while overcoming skepticism by talking about how another customer solved a problem by using a product or service. A good story can address an objection or concern before it is ever brought up by the customer. Done right, the story well told makes the story teller appear sincere and trustworthy.
Sales presentations are the quickest way to lose a sale since there may be nothing more obvious or obnoxious than a canned pitch, better known as death by PowerPoint. Shut down the laptop and build the relationship with your customer by sharing your stories.
Connect with a customer’s emotions by talking about past experiences with other customers. Stories can be a great way to break the ice with a new customer and ease the natural tension in a sales call. For the existing client, the well-told tale can enrich the relationship and reaffirm the business.
Generally, customers can identify with story and can picture themselves as a part of the story. This emotional connection helps them remember the story while they may never remember the fact or figures, let alone the features and benefits of your product. Stories should have a simple theme or value; if the tale is too complicated the message could get lost.
The mechanics are simple. A good story’s opening is clear and engaging. The sequence of events must be easy to follow. Don’t be too clever or you might lose your audience. The story must have a clear ending and must have had purpose.
If done right, the story lives on in the memory of your customer. Story telling can achieve things that marketing brochures can’t.
John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.
Good Morning John,
Thanks for the timely post. I’m in the middle of developing a canned powerpoint presentation – well in my case a keynote (mac) presenation and just feeling that it won’t do the trick. So, your post has given me a new approach that I hadn’t thought of. One question though. If I’m doing a remote call/internet visit with a potential client, how should I go about sharing info about our company without using some sort of visual such as a presentation? I’m thinking I may be able to still use a small presenation that tells a story, keeping it very clean with minimal words and then linking over to tools we provide our clients online as they are brought up in the story. Any thoughts on that approach or do you think best just to have a candid phone call and leave the internet/visuals alone?
Thanks!
Zack
Zack,
Zack,
I guess it gets down to how well you know the customer.
Customers are so used to canned pitches that they will ask you do them–even if they won’t actually listen.
With so much info on the web these days, most buyers already know the specs of an offering—-so lots of detail is not really required.
Visual aids are powerful—especially when not in-person. Maybe a combination of a short PowerPoint and a story based approach is better. I have read that over 70% of communication is non-verbal, so you are at a disadvantage when on the phone.
That said, I don’t know all the facts in your situation.
Best of luck. Let me know how it goes.
JBJ
Story selling is my bread and butter. Being in financial services it really adds a twist that many clients are not used to. What they are used to is facts, figures, charts and illustrations. While those things are useful, they also paint a picture that sets expectations that really have nothing to do with what will happen in the future.
Selling with a story is more like a client testimonial than an actual sales presentation. Clients and prospects can really relate to that.
Zach,
I am obviously not familiar with the nature of the client relationship that you have and what type of presentation that you will be presenting (ie. how technical). That being said… Go to the book store and pick up a childrens book like Dr. Seuss. Childrens books are designed in a fashion where the pictures enhance the words in the story.
I would create my story and then find the illustrations that bring my words home.
Steve,
Good advice.
People are buried in data these days—they want to know what “it” means to them.
Stories sell benefits not features.
JBJ