Why Story Selling is So Effective.

I delivered a sales skill training workshop for one of my client's sales reps last week, and while we covered everything from getting in the door to closing the deal, a large part of the discussion was about how to properly use story and anecdotes to facilitate the sales cycle.

Before I get into this, let me start with a story about a cat that I used to have.  This was a small black cat, fairly timid and skittish. Every now and then we'd have to give her medication for one reason or another.  If you've ever owned a cat, and had to give that cat medication, then you'll know that it's damn near impossible. It took both me and my wife trying to hold her down, attempting to get her to swallow a pill in vain as she hissed, scratched, and tried to bite us. 

Factual Selling Doesn't Work

This is what selling is like. It's what any attempt to persuade someone to change their perspective is like.  When I ran for political office, I would have conversations with people all the time who no matter how much evidence you provided them would never change their political viewpoint. We're coming up to the end of an election in the next couple of days and even now my Facebook wall is flooded with posts from people trying to change everyone else's opinion. My wife and I went to a Paint Nite event a couple of weeks ago, and the woman who sat beside us was going on and on about how much she hated Trudeau, but when pressed as to why, didn't have an answer.  It was just what she believed. 

Outdate Human Software

This is a result of what I believe to be "outdated software" that we all operate on.  We should be persuaded by factual information but we are not.  We have deeply ingrained defense mechanisms that keep us invested in our existing beliefs, even if we are presented with information that proves that they are wrong.  Why would we do this?  This article from Psychology today suggests a couple of reasons, one of them being cultural cognition.  This suggests that we hold onto beliefs because it helps strengthen a group we identify with and strengthens our ties to that groups.  By keeping our belief's in line with the group or social network we are a part of we are gaining social currency and preventing ourselves from being ostracized.   These are very important needs that we need to satisfy, and far more important than actually being right. 

What does this have to do with selling? In any sales scenario, you are the outsider trying to influence someone who is part of a group to potentially change their belief system, that your product or service is better than the way that the customer is currently addressing that problem.  If you are trying to persuade with facts and proof points you are going to fail.   I've been in this situation before, when I was selling servers, trying to convince customers that our servers were more power efficient than our competitors, and even though we had 3rd party testing reports proving this fact, our customers were very reluctant to believe me. I would run into all kinds of cognitive dissonance, and the customer would grasp onto any other evidence to believe mine was false.  

 You may have a champion in an account who believes in your product or service, but in any complex sale, you have multiple people to influence, and group think can be a major roadblock to getting the deal done.  So how do you get past this?

Well, let's go back to the cat? How do we get the cat to take a pill? You put the pill in something enjoyable and they'll gobble it up. The same Psychology Today article points out that if people are shown facts after having an experience that makes them feel positive about themselves, they are most likely to change their beliefs. 

Story Unlocks The Vault

This is what story does in selling.  Story is the turkey that you can wrap your facts in to get your customers to swallow them.  We are hardwired to communicate through story. We enjoy listening to stories, and we like telling stories.  Story telling in selling turns a negative experience (a sales call) into a positive experience (a conversation) that your customer is more likely to remember fondly.  The story's that you tell have higher retention.  Only 5% of people remember facts, while 95% of people remember stories.  Stories are also easier to share internally. Your champion is more likely to be effective at persuading their peers by using the stories you tell, rather than the whitepaper document that you shared. 

 The big thing that I worked on with my client's sales reps was how to address objections.  When we first started, they were trying to rebut my objections with facts. After we finished our role-play, they were handling objections by using customer stories and anecdotes, which were far more effective.