Truth V: Tell Compelling Stories

All human activity is prompted by desire.
- Bertrand Russell

Telling compelling stories is one of the most important skills you can develop in sales. Storytelling is a great way to present your solution in a fascinating way and is absolutely necessary if you want to become an outstanding salesperson. Telling compelling stories in order to persuade the prospect that not only do they need a solution but that you are the only solution for them. Convince the prospect through storytelling that your company is THE Solution. If you don’t tie your solution into the prospect’s pain or concerns, then your product and all the wonderful things about it will mean nothing to them.

Use the art of storytelling when you need to take your prospects on mental journeys. If you have been working with a prospect for a while, you may need to take them back to the place of pain where you first found them. Also use it to explain who your company is and what they do in order to compel your prospect to do business with you, how your product revolutionized another one of your client’s businesses, or how someone went with the cheapest vendor, experienced disaster, and came back to your company to try and fix it. Anytime you hear a great description, whether it is in a movie or a song, pay close attention to how the words are used. Above all else, make sure your story is memorable.

Important Aspects of Telling Compelling Stories:

• Meaningful Details
• Audience Awareness
• Paint Word Pictures