I’m fascinated with disconnects.
The disconnects between what we know we should do…and the reality of what we actually do.
The disconnects between what we think we’re good at…and the reality of our skill level.
And since I focus on marketing, and specifically the stories we develop and use to differentiate ourselves and build curiosity and interest in our services, I’m also fascinated with the disconnects around sales stories.
So where’s the disconnect and why’s it important?
I don’t think too many people argue against using stories to sell invisibly. The often quoted Fortune magazine article of a few years back did an excellent job of pointing out the power of stories, and countless sales training programs and books have advocated the use of stories.
No, the disconnect doesn’t lie there.
The disconnect is that although sales professionals, business owner and consultants all agree that sales stories are a powerful selling tool, in reality they don’t use them much.
…Or as much as they think they do.
There’s two reasons for that.
First, people don’t have a process or system for creating and communicating stories. Which is why so few people are really good at it.
Second (and even more importantly) people don’t have stories prepared.
They don’t see the need. After all “I’ve been telling stories for years. Got a million of them. Pull them out whenever I need.”
Sure.
The problem is that you just can’t make up stories when you’re in the heat of a sales call. Way too much pressure.
Plus, if you don’t get all that many times at bat…only a few opportunities to actually talk with a real-live prospect…the overwhelming tendency is to bring out your “solution” bat at the first hint that the prospect has a problem you can solve, and start just whacking the poop out of the poor person.
Sure…we think we’re good at using sales stories, but in reality most people aren’t.
And I can prove it.
Ready?
Think about the top three reasons (aside from price) for why prospects don’t do business with you.
Got it?
OK, now go ahead and pick one of those. The really big one that comes up time and time again.
Let’s tell a story that will overcome that. Take some time to get prepared. I’ll do a start/stop.
OK, ready?
Start…
Now…
……Stop.
Is that story all cued up in your brain ready to go?
What do you mean, that wasn’t fair? Of course it was.
The reality is that in a real live sales situation you would have had just a little less time than it took you to read that exercise to pull from your subconscious, the story that you would tell to address that really big objection you face.
Not so easy to make these up on the fly, is it?
Which underscores the importance of having lots of stories prepared in advance. Which brings me to “strategic” storytelling vs. “tactical” stories.
When I first talk about using stories to sell more effectively, people tend to think that what I’m referring to are “success stories” or maybe a story about your company.
Those are part of the game, but only a small part.
If you want to sell without it ever really being apparent that you’re selling (aka selling invisibly) you need lots of stories that cover all the components of the sales conversation.
Such as stories for each of the objections you know are coming your way.
Puts developing and using stories in a different light doesn’t it?
I know that when the light went on in my mind that using stories was going to be a more effective way to get remembered and differentiate myself from the competition, I thought the implementation of that approach would be the proverbial piece of cake.
Stories would instantaneously appear when I needed them.
Not even close.
It wasn’t until I started developing and warehousing the stories that they became a tool I actually used. My “Velveeta” story for overcoming the objection that you can do this internally…my “New York City” story for addressing the objection that we know how to do this already. (I shared part of that story with you today when I had you complete the exercise of “do you have a story for the biggest objection you face?”)…the list goes on.
So…how did you do on the little test? Maybe there’s a bit more to this than meets the eye.
If my coaching to help you develop great stories is outside your budget, you certainly ought to grab a copy of my book. It’s helped a lot of people, perhaps it will help you too. You can get it HERE
Talk with you soon,
Mark
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Tags: business development, guerilla marketing ideas, insurance sales training, new clients, overcoming objections, selling services
