Sales Stories Sell... How Well Are Your Stories Being Heard?

"Stories are a communal currency of humanity."

Tahir Shah, in Arabian Nights

Everybody loves a good story, if you want to sell your products, your vision, or your ideas to the business world, you must recognize the power and importance of great storytelling.

You must become an expert in telling your own story! We all have a story and it deserves to be told. The question becomes, how well do you know your story?

Reflect on this for a moment... Most seem to tell stories just to tell them. However, when you start asking why people listen to and then share stories, often times there's a reason. It might be to encourage or inspire you to think differently.

Do you believe stories help you sell? Many in sales will agree, stories help us to sell.

So, if stories help you to sell then what makes up your sales story? Sit for a moment and think about it. Take a moment to reflect upon your sales story.

• Is my story relevant to my clients and prospects?
• Is there a point to my story?
• Is the message behind my story self-serving?

PEOPLE BUY STORIES

Stories are all about people and the relationships between them. Is your sales story worth telling? Can it influence your clients and prospects in some way? Can it take them on a journey to better business?

Michael Margolis is one of the world's leading experts in Narrative Strategy. A 2x TEDx speaker. A strategic advisor to Silicon Valley's biggest brands.

• People don’t buy a product, service, or idea; they buy the story that’s attached to it.
• Storytelling is our most basic technology, turbocharged through 21st century innovation.
• Storytelling is like fortune-telling. The act of choosing a certain story determines the probability of the outcomes.

THE HEART OF THE STORY

We all have many opportunities to tell stories inside the sales world. Think about every client meeting, every prospect meeting and every encounter when prospecting; the questions we're being asked form the basis of your stories. The question to think about... which ones matter, why tell your story, when to tell your story and what do you really hope to convey?

A true sales professional understands the story they tell is not about their personal greatness. They get to the core of what matters. They involve the heart. The stories they share are sincere, heartfelt and not canned.

Sales is the art of the help. Art rhymes with heart. Get your clients and prospects to hear with their heart.

Authenticity is the key to getting someone to listen with their heart.

AUTHENTICITY

Authenticity attracts. Unfortunately; low trust, rampant skepticism and B.S. meters are at an all-time when it comes to how many view salespeople. Authenticity is not an option any longer inside the sales world.

In a sales world increasingly filled with sales fakes and empty suits people yearn for a sales professional who is the real deal. I encourage everyone to cut through the noise and sales clutter by telling an authentic story.

Your story, it's more than a sales pitch. It's your brand voice. It's 100% all you - the way you walk, talk and live it with your clients and prospects. Your story, how are well are you sharing your story through LinkedIn, your sales website. This is one huge way to influence your clients and prospects to talk about you.

STORIES THROUGH SOCIAL

A sales professional leverages the use of social media to help get their story out and into the marketplace. They realize in order to achieve maximum impact, they must tell the same cohesive story across all the channels that their clients and prospects engage on.

STORIES THROUGH YOUR NETWORK

A sales professional understands their story becomes more powerful when their clients tell it. Just like product reviews or client testimonials, stories told through the mouths of happy clients has the power to resonate with potential customers in a way that is indescribable.

BRINGING IT HOME

Learn to embrace authentic storytelling and you'll be greatly rewarded. The right people will notice and they’ll become your evangelists.

"Communicate your promise, this is your brand identity"

Telling an authentic story isn’t as simple as tweaking a few lines. It starts with some serious self-reflection as you look inward. With some self-awareness, you’ll be able to let down your guard down and simply start thinking about your sales story. It's begging to be told, I guarantee it.

I leave you with these two questions to help you kick start your story. Your clients are a wealth of help, you just need to ask them.

• Can you share with me three ways I've added value to your business
• Can you share with me three ways I've helped you to do better business?

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.

Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.

You can find more material inside Selling From The Heart.

In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market. 

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.