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| SALES HINTS... |
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Ask any prospect to recall information from a presentation you recently gave and you’re likely to get a blank look – unless you told stories to illustrate your points. People remember stories. They repeat good stories. Try it and you’ll find your customers will probably need notes to recall the specific costs and capabilities of your solution, but guaranteed he’ll be able to repeat, from memory, that story you told about a mistake you made during a past implementation and how your company learned from it. Still, the question for many sales people is: how do I find stories? Success stories. Everyone loves success stories. They put people and companies in the best light, and they play an important role in showing prospects how other people addressed the same challenges. We connect to the details and can envision ourselves walking down the same path and achieving the same great results. We crave success stories because we all want to be successful! Failure stories. Yes, that’s right. You need an arsenal of stories about your failures, how they happened, what you learned, and what changes you made as a result of those lessons. Why tell this kind of story? First, everyone knows they exist and if you try to sweep them under the rug and pretend you have had no failures, prospects won’t trust you. Second, failure stories help us build strong bonds with people. They demonstrate that we are human and that mistakes are acceptable. This is so obvious, but so often forgotten Funny stories. Work should be fun. Sure, there are times to be absolutely serious, but there’s no reason you can’t use a funny, humorous story to lighten the mood in a big presentation, as long as that story is tasteful and relevant. Legends. These are the stories many people already know, but they still serve an important role in that they shape the ways we do business. For instance, think about the stories of Bill Gates or Michael Dell or, going further back, Henry Ford who told his marketing people that you can paint the cars any color they want, as long as it’s black. Since everyone knows these stories, they offer shortcuts to making points about taking risks, trying something new, pursuing dreams, and so on Do you have stories to tell in all four categories? If not, start thinking about your experiences and jot down memorable events. It doesn’t have to be dramatic; often, the more real and everyday they are, the better your audience will be able to connect with them. Keep a notebook and as events occur that are worth repeating and learning from, jot them down. After a few month of looking for and thinking about stories to tell, you’ll have a wealth of stories from which you can pull to help persuade prospects
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