Episode #225: Buyers Remember Our Stories When We Are Selling

We do a great job on building trust with the client. We get permission to ask questions and away we go on that magic journey of buyer needs discovery. We have a clear idea that we can help, know what will happen and what the likely outcomes will be for the buyer. We are doing a good job as a sales professional, then suddenly we drop the ball, we stumble at the finish line, we flub it. We are presenting our solution, but we are not persuasive and we don’t get the business.

The solution provision component of the sales process has a number of clear steps. Just going through the motions reciting the features of the solution like a pirate’s tired parrot is so very 1970s, you can hardly believe there are salespeople today still doing this. These features are dry facts, basic information about what is involved. If we only do this, we are relying on the client to get excited about a solution, but we are underpowering the persuasion part to push them to buy.

The hole we make in some materials such as wood, brick, concrete, steel etc., with a drill is the result the client wants and the drill is the mere tool to provide the outcome. We need to know what we are going to be drilling into, by asking basic questions. All good and here is where the storytelling becomes important. When we get to the benefits part of the conversation we need to weave storytelling into the conversation. We relate how our solution made a dramatic difference for another client by relating the background and context.

For example, “This Super Drive 4 Speed Supremo Model is just what you need for this concrete drilling job you have in mind. This is the preferred model for professional construction crews. They are required to get the wooden framing attached to the concrete base as quickly and rigidly as possible, because these crews are always under tremendous time pressure. Weather problems, supply delays, missed deadlines are the bane of their lives. They cannot work with inferior equipment because time is money for subcontractors, as you know.

Last month we sold a batch of drills to a crew who were building a shopping mall, so you can imagine how much concrete square meterage was involved. It was a big order, so I delivered the drills for them.

Watching these skilled tradesman at work was incredible. The speed at which they swarmed all over that Shopping Mall foundation with those drills was amazing. They were flying and before you knew it, the base boards were done and the vertical struts were all up becoming an instant forest. The strength of the drill power was just perfect for concrete. Yes, the Super Drive 4 Speed Supremo Model will serve you well for many years of great reliability and service”.

The imagery of the vast Shopping Mall concrete slab, the swarming tradesmen, the forest of vertical struts are things we can see in our mind’s eye. This information is going to capture our imagination in a way that data about the weight of the drill, battery life, the drill bit capture mechanism, the charging protocols, the power output, the colour range and speed dials will not.

So think about your product or service. How can you tell a story about how another client made use of your solution, telling a story which is both powerful and memorable? In the construction story there was some drama about the Shopping Mall construction completion deadlines that gives the story more reality and flavour. What drama points can you add to your story, rather than relying on the dry retelling of the main points?

We remember stories more easily than miscellaneous data. We want our clients to remember what we are telling them and to remember us. So, revise your solution provision section of your sales process and see what fabulous stories you can tell the client, to persuade them to buy. This is what will differentiate you from all of your competitors, making you memorable in the mind of the buyer.