Sales Is All About The Story You Tell

"Successful sellers are good storytellers"

If I could describe one of the most important attributes that a great salesperson needs, it would be the ability to tell a good story.

Now I don't mean they should be able to recite Goldilocks and the Three Bears to a class of children

What I'm talking about is their ability to hold an audience, to be able to tell an interesting story, allow the customer to relate to them and to demonstrate both knowledge and confidence.

"A good sales person knows how to talk, a great sales person knows how to tell a story"

When you are talking to a customer, whether it's on the phone during a cold call or face to face in a meeting, those conversations are critical. They really can make or break the sale.

If you're stuttering, lacking confidence, not sure what to say, then do you think the customer is going to feel confident buying from you.

Imagine now a confident storyteller who takes their customer on a journey to understanding them, their product and their brand.

“Tell me a fact, and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth, and I’ll believe. But tell me a story, and it will live in my heart forever.”  

When you are trying to sell to someone you want to build a relationship. You want them to believe in you and your company. By telling a compelling story about you, your company and your product you have the opportunity to achieve that.

Here are my top 5 tips to achieve storytelling success in sales:

1) Plan Your Story - Make sure your story has a beginning, middle and end. Without structure it will feel disconnected and your audience will struggle to engage with it. Practice also makes perfect. Either the more you do it or the more you practice, the better it will come across.

2) Create a Villain - One of the keys to sales is identifying a problem. That problem will be the villain in your story. You want to discuss problems that your customer has had or other companies in their industry have had. Create a fear

3) Can They Relate? - You want your audience to connect with you and the story. Make sure your story is relevant to your customer, their company and their industry. You also want to make sure you keep it real. Don't try and exaggerate or make a story seem too grand or it will become fictional.

4) Use Body Language - It's not only the story you tell, but how you tell it. Use body language and hand gestures to show emphasis and enthusiasm. You want to engage the people you are speaking too and you want them to be captivated by what you are saying.

5) Moral of the Story - Make sure you know what the moral of the story is. Hopefully the moral will be that they should buy from you! The same with any sales process, the end (or close) is the most important part.

Your stories should cover these key areas:

• Who you are, who your company is and what it is you do.
• What is your companies purpose and vision
• What makes you different
• What problems exist for them or their industry.
• How you can help solve those problems.
• What are you proposing or what are the next steps

Wait a minute.....

What if I don't feel confident telling a story?

Have a think about a time when you told your friends about a film, TV series, band, sports team etc.

Chances are you would have told them a story about it trying to sell it to them. It's something we do naturally without thinking. When we love something or have an interest in something we try to convince our friends to like it as well.

"Oh you really should watch "Breaking Bad", it's one of the greatest series of the last 10 years! I've watched the series twice now and absolutely love every series and episode, I think you would really enjoy it"

When you start to tell them about the series, you're not consciously telling some planned out story, but talking about something you love and are passionate about.

This is very effective storytelling!

Use this to help you build the same format for your product and company.

As with everything just keep practicing. The more you do it, the better you will be. Ask for feedback from your boss, colleagues, friends or family. That will help you perfect it.

You also need to tell them YOUR story

The rise of social media has given every single salesperson a personal brand. Suddenly your prospects and customers can see your story through your social media profiles and content. This makes it hugely important, and valuable, to tell your own story well.

We all know that people buy from people they know, like and trust and so telling them your story can be a very powerful way of doing that.

Make sure your profile, especially your profile summary, is written in an engaging, storytelling way. Walk people through WHY you do what you do. It's also important to bring effective storytelling into the content you create.

Whether it's a post, blog or video, make sure you tell your story in an effective way. Don't just blurt it out in a couple of paragraphs or share an image on its own, tell the story behind it!

What do you think?

I'd love to know what you think! Please write your thoughts and ideas in the comments box below. Do you agree? What works best for you?

I hope you found this blog helpful and informative! If you enjoyed this post please do click LIKE and click SHARE to share it with your network, thank you.

If you enjoyed this post please take time to read some of my other recent posts.

The 10 Things That Will NEVER Change In Sales

How To Make Cold Calling Fun!

Successful Salespeople SELL With Why...

The 10 Films You MUST Watch If You Work In Sales!

About the author: 

Daniel Disney is the UK's leading sales writer and social selling expert and is also the Founder and Owner of The Daily Sales.

With over 180 sales blogs written over the last couple of years read, Daniel has become a source of knowledge, motivation, entertainment and inspiration for salespeople all around the world. Daniel is the Founder & Owner of The Daily Sales, the most popular page on LinkedIn for salespeople! With an audience of over 200,000 and growing, his content reaches salespeople far and wide ultimately helping them sell more.

Daniel now delivers his hugely popular Social Selling Masterclass on his mission to help all sales professionals and sales teams leverage social to its full potential. For more information on bringing the Social Selling Masterclass to your sales team, email [email protected].