Last night I re-watched what I (and many others) consider to be one of the best speeches given by a business executive in the past 10 years.
Can you guess whom I’m referring to?
Ironically, it was a commencement speech given by one of the world’s foremost business visionaries-who never actually graduated from college.
It started this way.
“Thank you. I’m honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation.
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots…”
It’s been viewed over 2.4 million times and is the only commencement speech to actually go viral. But most importantly it’s a model that all of us can learn from who aspire to gain greater attention for our marketing messages, motivate others or simply differentiate ourselves from the over-increasing hordes of competition.
You may have guessed that the speech I’m referring to is one given by Steve Jobs at Stanford University’s commencement exercises.
What made this speech so powerful? A large part of it is what Job’s said in the very beginning, “Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.”
A friend of mine who was there later told me that you could visibly see the audience’s level of attention increase as Jobs spoke those words.
Intellectually most of us know that if we want to get attention or persuade and motivate others, using stories is by far the most effective tool we have.
But do we really do it?
Unfortunately the answer is usually, “No”
A quick case in point.
I was in a meeting last week with a top senior sales executive for one of the largest financial services companies in the world. I was there to talk about my sales training program Unique Sales Stories: How To Get More Referrals, Differentiate Yourself From the Competition & Close More Sales Through Storytelling.
I could tell that Mr. Williams (he asked that I not use his real name although he did hire me to conduct the program for reasons that will be apparent in a moment), agreed wholeheartedly about the “concept” of using stories to more effectively develop relationships and close sales.
I could also tell that he thought his sales team:
1) Already knew how to tell stories, and…
2) Were doing a good job of it.
I could tell this because…well, he told me so.
Anyway, playing a hunch, I asked Mr. Williams if he would spare 2 more minutes and walk with me out on the sales floor. Humoring me, he agreed.
We walked past the desks of over 2 dozen financial advisors, all on the phone, all pitching their services. We’d stop periodically and eavesdrop.
Guess what we heard-or more specifically what we didn’t hear?
Not a single story.
Lots of facts. Lots of features. Lots of…noise. But not a single story that would enable prospects and clients to visualize the benefits these advisors were offering.
I’m sure you get my point.
There’s a world of difference between intellectually knowing something and actually doing it. Even more importantly…as I suggested to Mr. Williams, there is a huge difference between knowing what you should be doing and actually how to do it.
Which is why Mr. Williams is now a client.
But let me go back to Steve Jobs’ speech for a moment. After I watched the speech again I got curious. I’m a big fan (in fact I’m likely to be the only person you’ll ever meet who actually has never used a PC), but I was curious about something.
Does Steve Jobs wing it when he gives a speech? I mean the guy is one gifted speech giver. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he did.
But apparently he doesn’t. Not by a long shot.
I had the opportunity to do some work with Apple about 15 years ago and have stayed in contact with the person who hired me. (Not a big surprise-I am the Gentle Rain guy after all.) Anyway, he had a lot of interaction with the CEO so I posed the question of whether Mr. Jobs did much preparation prior to giving a speech. He replied:
“You wouldn’t believe how much preparation goes into making these speeches look completely unrehearsed and natural. The content is excruciatingly and painstakingly reviewed to make sure the ‘points’ come across. Absolutely nothing is left to chance. The preparation and the practice is the stuff behind the scenes, that very few are aware of, that makes the end result so powerful.”
So here’s something to think about…
Stories are powerful.
Stories get you remembered.
They help you develop more brand new relationships and convert prospects into paying clients.
But knowing and agreeing with those statements is worlds apart from actually developing those unique sales stories that only you can tell.
Perhaps that is something I can help you with. Whether it is training your sales team on how to develop and deliver sales stories…to coaching you one on one…to writing a great sales story for your website…please let me know how I can assist you.
Thanks and I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Mark
mark@gentlerainmarketing.com
770-643-8566
Relevant links:
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Steve Jobs YouTube video:
Transcript of the speech:
Tags: business sales training, guerilla marketing ideas, sales conversion, sales presentation training, sales prospecting, selling services, training in sales
