Stories sell! Just keep them short and focused on the buyer

Imagine a group of our hunter-gatherer ancestors hanging out around the campfire at the end of the day. One person is intensely illustrating their recent adventures by drawing on the cave wall.

Others jump in and paint figures and symbols of their own, adding to the “conversation”. A few days later, one crafty caveman “retells” the story in another setting a few miles away to a new group of people, enchanting everyone.

Storytelling is the original form of social media and humans are hardwired to easily remember and identify with them. This is how ideas are represented and passed along.

It’s the same in business. Today, video, smartphones, email, social media, and PowerPoint presentations have replaced the campfire. Yet, the art of telling stories is more important than ever.

Storytelling drives sales by drawing us in and captivating our imaginations. Telling stories demonstrates key points and provides insight. Storytelling can explain complex ideas and helps us see the value.

Maybe most importantly of all, stories encourage connections and gets people to care.

As Patti Digh, author and blogger, said, “The shortest distance between two people is a story.” Very true!

Just like your positioning, storytelling is customer-centric. It creates an emotional connection that makes what you do become real in the eyes of your audience. That’s why buyers are ultimately the heroes of your story.

Every business owner, executive, marketer, and salesperson must master storytelling. But, what are effective stories and how do you tell them?

There are three types of stories you and your team need to tell – a narrative that is relevant, your company’s “why,” and the “hero’s journey.” In all cases, you’ll place your buyer in the story, but not directly.

Here’s the most important thing to remember: stories sell!

What’s the point? A narrative relevant to your customer’s life in some way will catch their attention, plus help them remember you. A short and interesting story that is inspiring, amusing, or eye-opening is what’s called for here. It can be something that happened to you personally, observed, or even hypothetical. Just make sure it’s not about your company or your buyer. The story needs to reinforce a main point you are making or about to present. This is business storytelling with a purpose.

As an example, here is one of the stories I like to tell when speaking to an audience on creating a unique market position and how to communicate that: “Recently I drove by a large manufacture not far from where I live. Apparently they have a daycare center on site because a sign outside advertised, “Now hiring experienced four-year-old teacher. How much experience can a four-year-old teacher have? Clear communications is everything in business!”

What’s your story? Far from a long and boring story that tells your company’s history, this is why you do what you do. And even though it’s your company’s story, it’s customer-centric. Done correctly, your story will connect deeply with your ideal prospects and customers. Nothing deceptive here, just a genuine account of how your business came to its “ah ha” idea that helps your buyers do something better. This is the Promised Land storyline. Share a key insight affecting your market and reveal what you are doing about it, describing a Promised Land that your product will help buyers reach. This is not the time to go into a full-blown pitch of your product or service.

Try this to get started: ask an engaging question and then answer it as a very short story. “We had this idea that [explain an analogous problem in story form]. To remedy that, what if we created a [state a solution from your business that relates to this buyer]?

This signals to your audience that their status quo is not an option.

Can you make me a super hero? Your future customers want to know how your offering will make their life better and what they’ll achieve that they couldn’t before. Including a hero’s journey story into your talk and content helps overcome both fear of change and distrust. This is a short description of how you’ve acted as a guide during the buying journey for others with similar issues blocking their path to success. The hero’s journey uses classic storytelling to turn reluctant mortals into heroes. It is essentially a mini case study of someone your company helped that struggled with the same issues as your buyer.

There are four stages to telling the hero’s journey story:

1. Show the buyer their world is changing
2. Motivate them to get moving, make a decision (because staying with status quo is risky)
3. Show them the path to a safe place (where their problem is solved)
4. Let them know - at the end of the journey, a reward will be had (give an example of another customer who followed this path and received positive results.)

For instance, the end of a hero’s journey story might conclude: “At around 6 p.m. Sunday, we not only had the customer's system up and running, we had figured out how to shave 20% off their run time, making the application go even faster than it had before.”

People buy stories before they buy stuff. Science proves storytelling engages our brains and creates immersive experiences in such a way that we feel completely involved.

The above three types of stories and formats work amazingly well. They will gain empathy from your listeners and readers as well as help them to remember you and your company.

It’s almost impossible to resist the persuasive power of a well-told tale. Help your buyers attain a big, desirable, and previously improbable future. What’s your story?

Ron Stein is founder of More Customers Academy, helping business leaders build strategic messaging and positioning that cuts through the competitive noise to grow revenue. Ron has developed his own highly successful 5-step Stand Out & Sell More approach to winning new customers as a result of his twenty-five years of business development, marketing, and selling experiences. He works with a range of businesses, from startups to large corporations across industries including technology and healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services and banking. Ron conducts workshops, leads company meetings, offers keynote talks, and consults. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or by email.