Sales Narrative

Many thought leaders stumble into the content business by accident. Perhaps they give a great speech and then start giving a few more. Perhaps they write a book and people email them with questions. Or perhaps they start facilitating workshops, maybe they do a bit of executive coaching and some advising or consulting as well. Your buyers begin to see you as a speaker or as an author or even a facilitator.

And that’s all they see you as. Over time you craft your website your marketing collateral and even your sales conversations around this framework. You’ve positioned yourself to be perceived as a brain on a stick. Your clients aren’t exactly sure if they’re paying for that special magic that you bring to the table or for the world-class content that you’ve created.

Things go along well for a while until one day the business reaches a plateau. Your narrative or lack of one has become a barrier to your growth. You need to be able to articulate that your content is scalable. That is not totally dependent on you and that when it is deployed across an organization effectively it yields measurable business outcomes that are aligned to your clients objectives.

It’s time to move past being a brain on a stick. In order to make the transition from an individual selling various high-touch services to a business that sells solutions. You need to ask yourself a few questions. For example, are you presenting your content as a must-have (something that solves urgent business problems) or is it a nice-to-have? Is your content positioned to help clients see the value that can be unlocked by embracing it? Are you talking about business outcomes that entice the buyers most? Are you speaking the language of business fluently? These are just a few of the questions that you’ll need to properly answer when developing a sophisticated sales narrative.

When you go into a meeting with an under powered sales narrative, it’s like walking into a job interview wearing an ill-fitting suit. You come across as unready for big challenges and you miss sales opportunities. We have developed sales narratives for dozens of authors speakers and thought leaders that have been successfully used to close multiple five six and seven-figure deals. It’s part art part science and a core expertise we have.