I still remember college, where the only class that emphasized storytelling in a business setting was my marketing class. Not as a tool to create meaningful relationships, but as a tool to craft compelling messages in your marketing content. It wasn’t until I started working that I discovered that a good story can be useful for sales. A good story not only helps retain information, but it also helps improve conversations.
When approaching storytelling in a trading environment, I would like to highlight three main advantages.
Storage of information
The information age we live in today is one in buy Phone Number List which we are surrounded by noise. This constant stream of advertising both inside and outside of our work makes it difficult to focus. CEOs and other company leaders will likely find this to be more common. They are inundated with emails and calls from salespeople. It is more important than ever to find ways to stand out from the crowd.
Storytelling is one tool that can allow you to do this. In an article written by Judy Wills, she summarizes how this is possible: “The experiences we have with stories, starting as young children, create supportive conditions in the brain for learning and remembering, based on the emotional connection to the experience of reading or telling stories.”
This storytelling concept works well for both emails and conversations. Consider the following example CRM sales script:
Non-plot-based sales : "Vtiger CRM can help increase your sales by up to 29% and your team's productivity by up to 34%. Our easy-to-use interface allows you to quickly find and update customer information. With our accounting and telephony integration, you'll find that all your conversations and company activity can be tracked and managed on one software platform."
Story-Based Selling : “Your company reminds me of a small insurance company I recently helped. When they approached us, they were having difficulty closing sales. We found that their primary concern was inconsistency and even missing follow-up with interested prospects. Our CRM allowed their sales team to follow up on these prospects consistently and gave them easy access to customer information to create more meaningful conversations.”
While these aren't perfect examples, I wanted to highlight the disparity between the two approaches. Excluding irrelevant stats can ultimately turn a prospect off the conversation. The same can be said for bogging down the conversation by focusing unnecessarily on features that a prospect may not need immediately.
Take a look at the story-based example. In the first sentence, I immediately connect the situation to another I’ve experienced, which builds trust in our product and helps the buyer connect. Story-based selling also allows you to identify contextual business problems and point out how your product or service solves that problem. I’ve chosen not to focus on specific features or statistics. All of that can happen later, after the conversation has moved beyond the initial interest. The story makes it more likely for the prospect to remember your product, the solution you offer, and assign it a higher value.
The story-based example I gave brings me to the second point I would like to highlight, opening the way for customer inquiries.
Paving the way for customer requests
"The purpose of a storyteller is not to teach you to think, but to ask you questions to think about." Brandon Sanderson.
When approaching a prospect, particularly via a phone call or online meeting, you don’t want the meeting to be a one-sided conversation. In an article on Sales Hacker, it’s worth noting that the most profitable sales reps had a 43:57 talking ratio. This means that the prospect did most of the talking.
Storytelling makes this possible by connecting a previous situation to the prospect, and by creating interest and talking points that they can ask for clarification on. Take the example I gave earlier. The lack of specific information about how CRM enables sales reps to track actions more consistently creates questions that the prospect can ask, such as:
How was customer information stored and displayed in CRM?
How are conversations transferred to CRM?
Does CRM integrate with ___?
By telling stories, you can open up this opportunity for questions without making the sales call feel like an interrogation.
Create a personal connection
It's no secret that selling isn't just about selling your product, it's about selling yourself. Relationships are the foundation of sales, especially when working with companies at the enterprise level. Emotions are still the primary driving force behind purchasing decisions, and storytelling helps lay the foundation for this emotional form of selling.
When selling, it’s important to make it personal. You don’t have to share your entire life story, but you should find something in common, like a shared alma mater, where you live, or a family situation. Even if you have nothing in common with the prospect, it’s okay to share a funny story unrelated to your product. Creating that personal connection and showing that you’re not just there to make a sale may end up being what closes the deal.
Getting better at telling stories
There are many resources out there to help you develop your storytelling skills, and below are just a few that I have found useful:
The Magical Science of Storytelling
How to Tell a Story Effectively
How to Tell a Great Story
For me, the best way is to simply find a good TV show or book to read or watch. As you read that book or watch the show, pay attention to how the story is told and replicate that in your trading interactions. Storytelling is a difficult skill, but focusing on incremental improvement can yield amazing results in your trading interactions.