Tell Stories to Connect More Effectively
(3 minute read: Maximizing relationship impact)
Storytelling in sales is more than just telling stories to your prospects. It's also about telling stories with them - sharing experiences, emotions, and lessons learned from past experiences that may be similar to what they're facing now. This kind of storytelling helps build trust between you and your prospect because it shows that you understand their situation and are confident enough to share your experience with them.
One key to storytelling is in originality and alignment that suits your prospect/ customer's needs and goals. You need to know the different types of stories that can sell, so you can choose those that fit your brand or service, best.
Highly effective salespeople are to be able to tell stories in a way that engages people so they feel like they are part of the narrative. This means using emotion, passion and credibility when telling your story. The first rule in crafting a great story is to understand that the best ones are always personal. They’re about real people in real situations, and they show how your product or service solved an actual problem for them. This means you have to find out what your customers care about most and then highlight how your brand can help them. The first step in crafting a great story is to understand that the best ones are always personal. They’re about real people in real situations, and they show how your product or service solved an actual problem for them. This means you have to find out what your customers care about most and then highlight how your brand can help them.
Sales is 50% art and 50% science. The science is the easy part: doing the behaviors consistently that produce the desired results (prospecting, follow up, networking, investing in relationships). It is the 50% art that is such a juggernaut: effective storytelling, asking good questions, timing, empathy, anticipating problems and the appropriate solutions are all large pieces of the puzzle when it comes to connecting in relationships.
Storytelling is simply one of the puzzle pieces in this elaborate matrix of connecting with prospects and clients. Excelling at this skill will help win the minds and the wallet share of those clients we seek to serve.