“How we’re different from our competitors and why” – a story to differentiate you from your competitors. Every salesperson needs to be able to tell the story of the person who founded their company and why. Founding – Nobody ever started a company for a boring reason. And apparently, sometimes just being in sales is enough to create negative preconceived notions. “I’m not who you think I am – a story to help dispel negative pre-conceived notions a buyer might have about you before they even come up. Telling them a story about the last time you went to bat for a customer will be. Buyers want to know that when that happens, you’ve got their back and will fight for them with your management. “I’ll go to bat for you with my company” – Disagreements will happen, and your company isn’t always going to be in the right. Telling a story about when you made a mistake with another customer and admitted it will deliver that credibility without even having to make a new mistake. “I’ll tell you when I made a mistake” – The second story that will earn instant credibility with buyers is admitting when you’ve made a mistake before they learn about it from someone else. Telling a story about a time you did that with another client is a quick way to earn that credibility without having to wait for it to happen again. That way they’re more likely to believe you when to tell them you are the best solution. “I’ll tell you when I can’t help you” – One of two things buyers claim will earn instant credibility is to tell them when your company is not the best solution. This story explains why you chose the industry/company/job/role you’re in now. Why I do what I do – People don’t care what you do until they know why you do it. To relax and take the stress out of the call – a different kind of story you tell yourself to prior to the next call if what you need is not motivation, but to remove stress. Personal motivation – a story you tell yourself to pump yourself up for the next sales call. Who I’ve helped and how I’ve helped them – a more detailed factual story to give the prospect a concrete idea of the kind of customers you serve and what specifically you do for them. The goal is to get them to want to get to know you more. Explaining what you do, simply – a short, often fictionalized story to tell at a conference or on a cold call to help the prospect understand quickly and concretely what you do.
BEST SELLING SHORT STORIES TO WRITE HOW TO
An example of each is included in the book, along with guidance on how to craft and deliver great sales stories of your own.ġ. Each is outlined briefly below along with where it belongs in the sales process. In all, I found 25 unique types of stories being told. To my surprise, I found stories being used across the entire sales process, from introducing yourself to the buyer, to building rapport, to making the actual sales pitch itself, to handling objections and negotiating price, to closing the sale, even to managing customer relationships after the sale. I asked both the salespeople and buyers where storytelling was being used in the sales process, and what kind of stories were being told.
BEST SELLING SHORT STORIES TO WRITE PROFESSIONAL
I interviewed professional sales and procurement managers at over 50 companies, including Microsoft, Costco, Xerox, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hewlett Packard, Kroger, Cushman & Wakefield, Huntington Bank, and Children’s Hospital. I set out to answer that question two years ago when doing the research for the book, Sell with a Story. Storytelling is a powerful tool in sales – if you tell the right stories. The most important part of storytelling is knowing when to tell a story and choosing the right story to tell. Storytelling is all the rage in business today – and in sales in particular – because it works.īut having trained thousands of executives and salespeople in storytelling, I can tell you the first and most important thing you need to understand about storytelling is not the structure of a great story, or how to use emotion and surprise properly, or even how to deliver your story in front of an audience.