Dream-Selling: How to win more customers today by storytelling like Martin Luther King, Jr.

For the past 3 years on MLK Day I've taken 20 minutes out of my day to honor why this is a national holiday in the first place, and watch Dr. King's famous 'I Have A Dream' speech.

It's a great reminder of how powerful his words were and just what impact he had.

This year in particular I watched it 5 times over.

Because this year I realized WHY his words were so powerful.

How was he able to move an audience of 250,000 people, and ultimately achieve so much of the change he sought?

It was in the way he delivered his message and told a story.

Now think for a second about your own customer conversations...

On your demo calls...

In your sales deck...

Delivering proposals to big-ticket customers...

These are all specific instances where how you deliver your message directly impacts what outcomes take place.

Do you get ghosted, lose deals, or get negotiated down when the scope conversation comes up?

What if you could move your audience and initiate buyer-side action like Dr. King moved 250,000 people on August 28, 1963 en route to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

I call it Dream-Selling, and here's exactly how it's done.

DREAM-SELLING -- DR. KING'S 10-STEP PROCESS, AND HOW TO MODEL YOUR OWN CUSTOMER STORYTELLING IN THE SAME WAY

*Note: The point of this piece is to analyze effective storytelling given the impact the speech had, and provide a framework for your own customer storytelling. This is in no way intended to mitigate the issues still facing Black Americans and other under-represented groups in this country. There is still plenty more work to be done.

The time stamp next to each step indicate at what point in the video above the stated quote comes up.

Step 1: Secure buy-in. Align with the audience on a shared vision. (1:03)

"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation."

Freedom is the shared vision. That's what we're here for today.

How often do you jump straight into your pitch and talk about your capabilities? Or even jump straight into a problem with no set up? You'll push people away if you don't first align on a shared vision for why you are speaking that day.

Let's say you're selling HR software. Your shared vision might be 'build a more engaged workforce and get employees to work for your WHY'.

**#HYPETIP 1: Vision is aspirational and high-level, not a detailed 5-point plan. Can you make it as simple and reach-worthy as "Freedom"?

Step 2: Define the world and include an indisputable truth. (1:30)

5 score years ago, a Great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand in today signed The Emancipation Proclamation.

Dr. King references Abraham Lincoln and The 13th Amendment as the basis for the conversation moving forward.

He sets the premise for making his point and leverages an indisputable truth that no one can argue with.

Even the most staunch opponent literally could not argue with the fact that 100 years prior Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation.

When you're in a meeting with multiple buyers at one time, you're a fool if you think that everyone in the room feels as gung-ho as your main point of contact.

In fact, it's usually the decision-maker who is the most unconvinced.

If your story doesn't first build a world that they can agree to, you've already lost.

However, if you do build the world, you've won a micro-agreement and they'll be more receptive to the rest of your story.

**#HYPETIP 2: I like to take the buyer out of the business momentarily and paint an analogous situation. I've seen a lot of decks that try to paint the world but pretty much just rattle off some obvious industry stats or principles. Can you instead reference something that seemingly has NOTHING to do with the business, then once they agree draw the comparison?

While I say 'indisputable truth' the beauty of this technique is that if for whatever reason they do not agree with you, you can decide early on if it's worth continuing or cutting the conversation short. You only want buyers who operate in the same world as you.

Step 3: Build the problem. Highlight friction in the world. (2:15)

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

Directly after building the world with the indisputable truth, Dr. King pokes holes in that world. He challenges the meaning of free.

Notice how he does not use specific events here. That would devalue his point.

He speaks to themes that affect the audience at-large in order to gather emotional buy-in that a serious problem does exist.

Keep in mind, he's speaking not only to the 250,000 in attendance but the millions on TV as well -- black AND white. He knows he needs to rally around a cause.

At this point early in the speech if he brought up specific events highlighting injustice, he might get some Black Americans saying, "yeah but I wasn't there for THAT. THAT didn't happen to ME," and he might get some White Americans saying, 'I'm not sure about that', 'that was blown out of proportion', 'why are you blaming me', etc.

It would accidentally bifurcate the audience.

**#HYPETIP 3: When building friction, avoid making it a direct accusation of your buyer's problems. Instead, point to the issues with the 'world' -- the situation itself -- so that the buyer can look at themselves more like a 3rd party assessment.

Step 4: Make your point with metaphors. (3:17)

In a sense we've come to our nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir...It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

Wow.

What a powerful statement.

The use of metaphor helps further illustrate the problem and build the case.

**HYPETIP 4: While Dr. King inserts the first use of metaphor at this stage, you can use metaphors at any point. Wherever you use them, come ready to elaborate. If King had just said 'We've come to cash a check', and stopped there, everyone would have been very confused.

Step 5: Change is necessary. (4:38)

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check—a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

The metaphor continues to explain that change must be made.

The friction has become so great that the only option is to do something.

Remember, at its core you're asking your buyer to make a change of some kind. Whether they currently don't address the problem at all and you'd be their first provider, or they use your competitor and you want them to switch, you cannot ask for change without having respect for their current state of affairs.

That's why only after painting the world, then building up friction in that world can you make a call for change.

**#HYPETIP 5: Most sales reps will use this as the launchpad to talk all about their product, but expert presenters know to still hold off. Your job here is to simply introduce change as a concept, so that (later on) you can introduce your product as means to enacting that change.

Step 6: Emphasize urgency. (5:10)

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment...1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

Basically, sh*t's about to get real.

Dr. King emphasizes the importance of acting NOW, noting the consequence of inaction.

The consequence here is essentially "my people will not rest". Similar to Step 3, themes are highlighted but specific actions are not defined.

He doesn't want anyone FOR his cause to say, "Hmm..I don't know if I'm prepared to do that if we don't get what we want," or, "That's not gonna be enough, we need to do MORE," and he doesn't want anyone AGAINST his cause to say, "I dare you to try," -- It would only set up failure.

When communicating with your buyer, emphasize urgency by pointing back to how the thematic friction from before will persist and grow.

**#HYPETIP 6: Urgency does not HAVE to be a story of loss. It could also be a story of what is to be gained by doing something now. If pitching loss in a B2B buying environment you want to let on that you're aware you are not God and their company won't burst into flames if they do nothing. So, share the parts that will still be fine ('Hiring won't be affected, you'll likely still attract high quality candidates through brand value, however as the company grows so too will the headaches related to engagement. And think how that impacts turnover'.)

Step 7: Acknowledge tradeoffs. (7:26)

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. 

Now that he's brought the crowd to a point of change, King tempers expectations for how change will come about.

He's asking them to do something big: As victims of hate, do not harbor hate in return.

Again, he's speaking to Black AND White Americans, and in this case the decision-makers happen to be white lawmakers.

The crowd applauds after he makes this point, effectively showing those white lawmakers 'we are giving up something on our side to work WITH you'.

He gets across the necessary tradeoffs it will take to work with the decision-makers and achieve the shared vision.

Humanize the buying process and 'show your hand' in a sense by telling the buyer what it will take on yours and their end to get to the future state. That could mean saying 'hey, it's going to take some work to get there. You'll need to dedicate some resources to this'.

It doesn't mean you launch into a full scope discussion, just letting on that it won't be SO easy.

This makes it real.

**#HYPETIP 7: Acknowledging tradeoffs on your side and on their side can go a long way toward the pricing discussion tipping in your favor when that time comes. When both sides know what cards the other is holding, negotiation becomes less about "how can I win here?" and more about "how can we achieve the vision?"

Step 8: Define Success. (9:20)

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only."

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

After acknowledging the tradeoffs, Dr. King paints the picture of success.

Up to this point he speaks mostly in themes, but notice the transition here into specific, measurable results.

There's already buy-in to the vision, the world, the friction, the change, the urgency, and the tradeoffs, but now it's time to define how every stakeholder will know when the vision has been achieved.

When you define the results you're giving them something tangible to wrap this whole thing around. It shows you're invested in an outcome, but it also helps them realize their own potential. Potential which, to this point, maybe they were taking for granted.

**#HYPETIP 8: While you do want to point to specific outcomes, very rarely does it make sense to use specific numbers (such as '20% increase in employee happiness'). Unless you have 100% control over every factor impacting that outcome, you don't want to be held wholly responsible for it. It doesn't mean you're not striving for excellent results, but more often than not you'll set yourself up for failure. Instead, leverage qualitative outcomes.

Step 9: Delay the solution. (12:20)

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that ALL men are created equal."

You know what's amazing?

This went down in history as the "I Have A Dream" speech. Yet it takes ELEVEN AND A HALF minutes in to a 16-minute speech for him to first utter the phrase "I have a dream"!

Let's consider "I Have A Dream" as Dr. King's product or solution.

He's already completed 70% of the talk before introducing it!

Everything to this point was about the concept of doing something. The concept of achieving results. NOT how his product would make it happen.

But by delaying his product, it just makes natural sense that his would be the one to make it happen.

There's no need to justify why his idea makes sense, because that's already been taken care of.

Okay -- I need you to do one thing for me right now.

Open up your deck.

How soon do you introduce your product?

Slide 2? Slide 3? Slide 5?

STOP IT.

How much opportunity have you given away with that mistake?

Your product/solution should enter MINIMUM 50% in, and as late as 70% into your deck.

**#HYPETIP 9: While he's completed 70% already, King then uses "I have a dream" as his hook, repeating it 8 more times after its initial mention. Make your product a hook as well by having a line you mention several times over. Also notice how King does not get into the 'features' of his product. He shares the dream and the impact he hopes it will have. To quote Simon Sinek's popular TEDTalk - it was the "I have a dream" speech, not the "I have a plan" speech.

Step 10: Tie the solution back to the original vision and problem. (17:10)

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

The words above are the last 3 sentences of King's speech.

Remember the FIRST 3 sentences?

"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation."

Remember the problem he introduced shortly after that?

"...the Negro still is not free."

And look at what he closes with: Free at last.

He circles back to the shared vision statement he began with.

Damn. How's that for a finish?

**#HYPETIP 10: Notice how it is "we are free at last". By the end of your presentation it should no longer feel like us vs. them. It should feel like a we environment where you'll truly work together toward the shared vision.

In Conclusion...

There you have it.

There's your 10-step framework to win more customers by modeling your own story off of one that helped catalyze two of the most significant events in American history.

If you didn't already, I highly recommend you scroll up and watch the video of the full speech. For a couple reasons:

1) Because it's an important piece of American history and I believe it's your civic duty to know what was said that day, and

2) So you have a visual on amazing storytelling unfolding before your very eyes and make improvements on your next customer call.

I better not see your sales deck put your product on slide 2.

Before you go, I want to get your opinion in the comments below...

COMMENT BELOW: WHICH OF THESE 10 STEPS DO YOU THINK WILL BE MOST POWERFUL FOR YOUR OWN CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS?

Is it Step 9 -- delaying the solution?

Step 4 -- Metaphors?

Multiple steps?

Leave your answer in the comments!