[Pathway To Success] No 23, 15 Nov 2009 - A Powerful Sales Tool
Irena Whitfield
Pathway To Success, Published since 2000
Volume 9, Issue No 23, 15th November 2009
Publisher Irena Whitfield
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Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw
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Editorial:
Happy publishing Sunday, my precious Readers!
Today I'm bringing you special resources I believe you will love:
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Today's second item is a reminder of a law starting 1 Dec:
FTC Final Guides: FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements,
Testimonials. Changes affect testimonial advertisements, bloggers,
celebrity endorsements. The Federal Trade Commission today announced
that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives
to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial
ads in line with the FTC Act.
The notice incorporates several changes to the FTC’s Guides Concerning
the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which address
endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities,
as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers
and endorsers. The Guides were last updated in 1980.
If you forget to include in your website a terms of service, privacy
policy (including how you handle cookies), earnings disclaimer (incl
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time to do so within these few days.
Read this and get ready:
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The last tip in this quickie is a recommendation for the best free
applications for PC and MAC. Check them here:
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More goodies are waiting for you in the Issue below, so enjoy
and stay tuned... Pathway is back in 14 days.
Sincerely,
Irena Whitfield
Your Publisher
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Publishing dates
'Pathway To Success' is published every other Sunday.
Next Issue is supposed on 29th November 2009.
***************************
Contents
1. Today's Feature Article by Ian Brodie
2. Today's Tip On the Opportunity worth checking
3. Today's Tip On Tool worth using
4. Today's Promotional Tip
Today's Feature Article
Selling With Stories - A Powerful Sales Tool
Ian Brodie
The art of storytelling is dying.
We live in an age of soundbites, special effects, snappy comebacks
and the 30-second attention span. It seems that no one is interested
in taking the time to listen to, or tell a good story.
Yet think back to the last time you were truly moved by a film or
play or TV show. When you last cried in the cinema or sat on the edge
of your seat thoroughly gripped by a thriller.
Chances are that it wasn’t because of the special effects or any
snappy dialogue. It most likely wasn’t even due to great acting –
although that can help.
No, the reason you were truly engaged with the film or play was
because of the plot. Because the author hooked you with
an interesting story. And especially, because the author got
you to really care about the characters in that story
Storytelling in Sales
Now think about that example in the context of selling.
Don’t you want your prospects to really engage with what you are
saying? Don’t you want to grab their emotions rather than just
their logical brain?
Of course, you will never build the same degree of emotional
response in a selling meeting as in a thrilling drama. But you can
certainly do a lot better than the majority of dry, dull sales
presentations made today.
The secret, of course, is to use stories. And the most powerful
stories to use are personal ones. Stories with real human
protagonists rather than faceless corporations.
When you introduce your company, for example, don’t tell your
prospects you can save them 10% on their telecoms costs, or that
you’ve worked with the top 5 car manufacturers. Get that same
message across in a personal story and it will have so much more
power.
Contrast these two different introductions:
“We work with all the leading packaging manufacturers. Our machines
have the fastest changeover times in the industry, and we should
be able to save you an average of 10% on your running costs”
and
“We recently worked with John Smith, the CEO of BigPack. John’s
problem was that because of the long changeover times of his
existing machinery, his production was very inflexible and he
couldn’t respond quickly to the needs of some of his best customers.
By installing our equipment, he was able to offer the sort of
flexibility his customers were crying out for – and as an added
bonus, he found that running costs were 10% lower than before.”
Admittedly, the second introduction is a few sentences longer –
but those extra sentences – and the way the whole introduction
is worded – make a world of difference.
Think about how you would respond to the introductions as a CEO
of a Packaging company.
The first introduction is OK. The salesman builds some credibility
by highlighting that they work for the top companies in the industry.
And the fast changeover times and 10% saving on running costs
sound OK.
But there’s no emotion here. It’s cold, hard facts.
Worse, the “we could save you 10%” is almost a challenge. The
natural response of most people is to silently think “Oh you could,
could you? Prove it”. After all, what does the salesman know about
my business? How does he know I’m not already highly efficient?
But by rephrasing into a story as in the second introduction we
get over these problems.
Firstly, the prospect becomes more engaged when he hears someone’s
name. You’ve indicated you work with executives just like them –
perhaps even someone they look up to. And when you use the word
“frustrations” – not just a business problem, but real frustrations
– then they begin to feel empathy towards that person. Chances are
they’re feeling frustrations too – but like many executives, there
are few outlets for them to vent those frustrations. Now, by
talking about someone else’s frustrations you’ve begun to create
an environment where they can safely talk about their issues.
Additionally, by using an interesting story where you happened
to solve the client’s problem and save 10% of running costs, you’re
not making a direct claim. You’re not risking a challenge because
you’re talking about something that was done for someone else.
You’re not claiming you can save the prospect 10% - but they will
begin to make that inference for themselves. So now the prospect’s
thinking is “hmmm, I wonder if they can make those savings for us?”
not “well, he claims he can make those savings, but I’m not sure”.
Your story has allowed him to reach a conclusion for himself – and
so he is much more likely to believe it than if you claim it yourself.
In similar vein, when you get a prospect talking and they tell you
about some of the issues and challenges they are facing; you can
use your stories to build credibility and confidence that you have
experience in these areas and know how to help. But notice that
you’re not jumping to providing a solution for the client’s problem
(where you run the risk of being wrong) – you’re relating a story
about a client in a similar situation and what worked for them.
Again, the prospect thinks for himself: “Maybe this can work for me.
And even if not, they were able to solve this guy’s similar issues –
maybe they can find a different solution for me”. As opposed to
their thinking if you try to suggest a solution to their problem:
“How can they know how to solve my problem after 5 minutes? Do they
think I’m some sort of idiot who hasn’t thought about this?…..”
Crafting a Compelling Story
Some people are great natural storytellers. They mentally record
their experiences as stories and have no trouble recalling them
in an interesting and entertaining way.
For the rest of us, it takes a little work.
What you need to have in your armoury is a set of compelling stories
– perhaps 6 or 7 – covering a variety of situations where you, your
products or your services have added significant value. You can then
select from the stories as needed to fit the particular circumstances
you think are going to be relevant and interesting to your prospect.
And you can use the same story as an example as part of your
introduction, your elevator speech, or in an expanded version when
the prospect opens up and talks about a particular issue they have.
To craft the stories, first think about the typical problems your
product or service solves. Then think of some recent examples of
specific customers where this has happened.
Next, write a short paragraph summarising the example. A few
guidelines should help here:
Make the story personal. Don’t just talk about a company, talk about
a named individual who “owned” the problem your product & service
solved. Your story will feel much more real – and your prospect will
feel much more empathy towards a person rather than a corporation.
Talk first about the challenges the person faced. Again, try to
describe them in personal terms so that the prospect builds
a connection to your story. Don’t belittle the person – turn them
into the hero of the story – they had a problem which (by working
with you) they overcame.
Don’t spend a lot of time describing what you or your product
actually did. Although this might seem interesting to you – it’s
the least interesting aspect to your prospect. They’re much more
interested in whether the problem you solved is similar to theirs,
and what value or benefits did your solution bring.
Close with the benefits your product or service provided – but
underplay this. Almost add it as an afterthought – as if the
tremendous value you brought was just part of everyday business
for you. Avoid boasting or self aggrandising statements.
Write these examples up using natural, conversational language and
revise them until they sound right. Then learn and practice their
main points so that they don’t sound like a script.
And, of course, make sure you get the permission of anyone whose
name you use.
Putting the Stories into Action
Armed with your stories you can begin to put them into action
in sales situations. Don’t overuse them as you risk hogging
the conversation when you should be listening. Instead, use them
sparingly to spark the curiosity of the prospect, gain credibility,
and provoke a reaction or question.
Personally I use one story to introduce my company and what we focus
on (selected based on what I think is likely to be of most relevance).
Then I may use further stories later on to illustrate a point, or
to show that I understand their situation. But I will rarely use
more than a couple in a sales meeting of an hour or less. To do so
runs the risk of dominating the conversation and not giving
the client enough space to open up about their problems. And if
they don’t talk about their specific problems, then I can’t begin
to show them how I can help them.
********************************
Ian Brodie is the Managing Director of Lighthouse Business Consulting
- a management consulting and business advisory firm specialised
in helping professional service firms achieve their growth objectives.
We work with the partners of law, accounting, consulting and other
professional services firms to help them focus their strategies, get
control of their sales pipelines, improve the way they sell, and get
better results from their business development activities. Ian is
the editor of Rainmaker Resources - the leading website for Professional
Services Business Development. He also writes regularly on the topics
of Sales and Business Growth strategy at the Sales Excellence Blog.
http://www.sales-excellence.co.uk/
http://www.lighthousebc.co.uk/
********************************
Today's Tip On the Opportunity Worth Checking
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Today's Tip On Tool Worth Getting
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Here I want to share with you information on a free teleclass
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Before I tell you about the call (that is free), I need to ask
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Chances are it wouldn’t and you would suffer financially.
Unfortunately, most businesses are set up in a way that if there was
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Let me tell you, luck is not what makes a sustainable income possible.
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*************************
Motivation is like food for the brain.
You cannot get enough in one sitting.
It needs continual and regular top ups.
Peter Davies
*************************
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