We spoke in a series of three -Storytelling to Sell

I have to admit I'm from what's considered the "old" school of selling.

We were trained to talk about what the prospect was most interested in, themselves.

We spoke in a series of three, good, better, best, gold silver, bronze, etc.

We spoke in cadence, kind of like you do when telling someone a phone number, your brain has been trained to remember things this way, my number is 678-426-1524, you're used to me saying it that way and your brain is looking for that pattern. If I say 6 - 784-2 - 61 - 524 your brain has a hard time following it.

The next problem is salespeople today sell the wrong thing, they are selling their product or service when they should be selling the problem the prospects have.

How do we sell the problem they have, we use stories.

Why Storytelling?

Great stories are about people, not things.

People don't think in terms of information, they think in terms of narratives.

But while people focus on the story itself, information comes along for the ride.

Narratives are inherently more engrossing than basic facts.

They have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

If people get sucked in early, they'll stay for the conclusion.

When you hear people tell a good story you hang on to every word.

Stories carry things.

A lesson or moral.

Beyond stories, think about other ways that people could acquire your information.

Trial and error might work, but it would be extremely?costly?and?time-consuming.

Alternatively, people could try?direct observation, but that's also tough.

Finally, people could get their information from?advertisements. But ads aren't always trustworthy, there's a lot of noise in each space and people are generally skeptical of persuasion attempts.

Stories?solve this problem.

They provide a quick and easy way for people to acquire lots of knowledge in a?vivid?and engaging fashion.

Stories save time and hassle and give people the information they need in a way that's?easy to remember.

People are also less likely to argue against stories than against advertising claims.

First,?it's hard to disagree with a?specific thing?that happened to a?specific person.

Second, we're so caught up in the?drama?of what happened to so-and-so that we don't have the?cognitive resources?to disagree.

Stories thus give people an easy way to talk about products and ideas.

Outside of triggers in a conversation, people need a reason to bring that information up.

And good stories provide that reason.

They provide a sort of psychological cover that allows people to talk about a product or idea without seeming like an advertisement.

The same aspects of our brain that brings all the pieces together to recall a memory can bring those same pieces together, along with other pieces, to simulate a possible future, now the flexibility to remember things inaccurately, that corrupts our most vivid memory starts to look like a superpower, the key to our success.

So how can we use stories to get people talking?

Creating a story is actually simpler than you might think.?

Start with the problem or existing trend, explain how obstacles were overcome, and then wrap up with the impact/achievement.?

It might be helpful to think of it as a movie trailer that teases great things to come.?

Issue or idea??

An issue reveals a?problem, while an idea offers a?solution.?

While an issue says, "Isn't this?horrible?" an idea says, "Isn't this?fascinating?"?

Issue-based presentations lead with?morality, while idea-based presentations lead with?curiosity.

Remember, salespeople today sell the wrong thing, they are selling their product or service when they should be selling the problem the prospects have.