Storyselling for key account managers

By Roger E Jones*

Key Account Managers often need to communicate complex messages concisely and compellingly. A robust mechanism is to develop storyselling competence.?

Roger got his first insight into the power of storytelling as a bit of a rude awakening a few years ago when he was in charge of international sales for a fast-growing tech company. The company was doing very well but suddenly found itself competing with a US business that had already realised the benefits of storytelling approaches. He realised that it was an approach that they too would have to adopt in order to compete. Since that point, Roger has gone on to make "storyselling" a speciality, not just using it himself, but helping many individuals and organisations become proficient at it too.

Storyselling is the intersection between psychology, traditional selling and storytelling, as in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Storyselling as the intersection

A global pharmaceutical company working with Roger did a controlled experiment with their sales force. They found that, when half of them took a traditional approach to sales and the other half took the conventional approach but integrated just one relevant story, the success rate of the second half was two to three times greater than that of the first.?

Figure 2: Sales performance for different approaches

The most significant benefits come from combining both storyselling and traditional sales approaches.

Why stories work?

Fundamentally, stories work because they are the most natural way of learning. We take this for granted when we teach young children but tend to forget it once we teach adults, but it is still just as effective.?

Jerome Bruner's research showed that if facts and figures are embedded in a story, they become 20 times more memorable than those presented without one.

A deeper understanding of why stories work comes from looking at the brain chemical that various components of stories stimulate and comprehending their effects separately and in combination.

Oxytocin

Sometimes known as the "love hormone" triggers a sense of empathy and trust in your listeners and is, itself, triggered by you revealing something about yourself - perhaps making yourself slightly vulnerable by introducing a relatable character.

Cortisol?

The attention grabber is triggered by exposure to risk or challenge, and this can be maximised by introducing the risk or challenge but deliberately leaving it unresolved.

The combination of oxytocin and cortisol leads to transportation, where the participant is involved in the story to the exclusion of everything else.

Dopamine?

Also stimulated by the suspense of leaving the risk or challenge unresolved and its release causes people to listen more even more intently.

Endorphins

The final vital chemicals are endorphins, which make people feel warm and happy - and these are promoted by a little bit of self-deprecating humour.

Essential elements of a story

Stories that work usually include these elements:

• setting – where your story takes place, make sure it is something familiar
• a sequence of events – a recognisable order
• a central character – someone your prospect can relate to
• emotion – think what emotions you want your story to trigger
• unpredictability or surprise – without these you'll just have at best an exciting vignette
• cliff hanger – this will keep your prospect listening intently
• business point – clearly state this.

What is a story?

How to structure a story?

Story structures need to have all 5 of these elements:

1. Introduce the characters
2. Begin the journey
3. Have a turning point or obstacle
4. Draw it to a close
5. Learning point or call to action?

Dos and don'ts:?

• do stay on track
• enjoy the story
• think where you will place your story
• be a detective - look at how stories are used by other people and use that for inspiration
• be aware of the storytelling triangle.

The storytelling triangle consists of the story, the storyteller, and the listener. From the storyteller's point of view, the story and the telling of the story are entirely under their control. Still, the listener has their relationship with the story, and the storyteller can only impact that via the other sides of the triangle. To do this, you should be very clear about the point or meaning of the story.

9+1 stories

There are typically nine stories divided into three groups: the first three help with engagement; the second three make you the obvious choice, and the last three help with getting to "yes".

Engage

1. Why you do what you do: What motivates you, and what values do you bring? What will demonstrate your passion and build rapport?
2. Origin story: You need to bring your business to life - not just a dull timeline.
3. Key person story: Probably not founder/CEO - to build trust in the capabilities of your people.

Obvious choice / differentiate

4.?????Success stories: Success stories make your customer the hero and bring your offerings to life.

5.?????Inoculation stories: To pre-empt and offset objections.

6.?????Insight stories: Demonstrates the unique value you deliver.

"Yes" / enrol

7.?????Urgency stories: Urgency stories when, well told, can nudge your prospect to "yes".

8.?????Friction stories: Offset nagging concerns.

9.?????Values stories: These stories share what it's like to work with you and what you do if things go wrong.

For urgency stories, think about the three possible futures illustrated in Figure 3. You may opt to follow the amber line letting business cruise along with minor ups and downs. But if you do that, there is always a danger that as circumstances change and competitors get more aggressive, you will find yourself on the red trajectory drifting downwards. Therefore, it is much better to decide to implement the change,??become a master storyseller and find yourself on the green course to improve business.?

Figure 3: Three possible futures

The recommended approach is to create at least one story in each category so that you can use them as appropriate. Then, rather than writing them down in detail, just record the title and the meaning so that they are always live and fresh when you retell them.

The +1 story is the story you tell yourself, your internal narrative. Your inner narrative dictates your personal beliefs, outlook on life, and mindset. You need your past and future narratives to be fully aligned. Your +1 story is the most significant deciding factor on whether you'll succeed as a salesperson.

As a key account manager, you can draw on storyselling to make your message more meaningful, more enduring and help you build long-lasting relationships.

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* Roger was an oil exploration geologist in West Africa in his early career. After gaining an MBA degree at Cranfield School of Management, he worked worldwide in marketing, business development, and general management roles. In 1996, he discovered the power of storytelling after seeing a CEO deliver a truly inspiring conference speech using simple stories. This experience ignited his interest in researching how storytelling could persuade, inspire action, and make change happen. Roger started his own business in 2001 to help business people harness the power of storytelling. The Financial Times and The Sunday Times have featured his storytelling workshops, and Forbes reviewed his last book. He enjoys delivering 'pragmatic storytelling' coaching programmes, workshops, and conference speeches, to leaders and managers across all business sectors, throughout Europe, Asia and the USA.

Cranfield School of Management.?Key Account Management Forum. 2022.

Upcoming KAM Forum online event on 28th April 2022, 2-3pm BST:?Drayton Bird on 'A selling masterclass: Drayton Bird answers your sales questions'