“Once upon a time there was a salesman going from door to door to visit his clients. Every day he grabbed his demo kit, got on the bus to drive to his clients. There he presented his products, explained the benefits and demonstrated their effectiveness. But clients were barely impressed and sales were little. One day he forgot his most important asset in the bus: his demo kit. Because of that he could not show the products to the clients nor could he demonstrate their functions. Because of that he decided to tell a success story about the products to give his clients a taste of what they could gain. Until finally he realized that on that day his clients signed pay checks twice as much as before and storytelling became the main tool in his sales approach.”
Great salespeople share a set of three key skills: the ability to ask powerful questions, the ability to listen actively and the ability to tell great stories. Whereas the first two are widely recognized skills in sales, storytelling is only slowly entering the toolbox of sales reps.
The aircraft industry has recognized the use of stories and gives us an example of how stories can be used to grasp attention and sell an idea in an entertaining way. Have you noticed that some airlines changed their in-flight safety instructions? In many airlines the safety instructions before take-off were turned into a video that tells a story rather than the cabin crew demonstrating the safety measures. TAP shows since February of this year a video with wooden dolls. Delta, Air New Zealand, Virgin America and others have created their own unique videos. For my part I have to say, since they have these funny videos, I am listening again to the instructions. I am just not able to ignore the video.
Stories are the soft way of selling an idea or product. They are the most basic form of learning in human history. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and instilling moral values. They are part of who we are. And honestly, stories are what we pay most attention to. Try to remember the news from last night. What most people usually come up with are the stories about people. The old lady, whose neighbour is giving her sleepless nights. The teenager, who lost his entire family in a typhoon. The journalist, who was kidnapped by terrorists. It is emotional and easy to digest. Stories about people don’t meet a cognitive barrier to enter our brain. They are so natural that we just swallow them.
A study proves that people find information that is easy to digest more accurate than information they have to think about (McGlone et al., 2000). In this study common wisdom was presented in either of two ways: in a rhyme or non-rhyme format. This could be: “Caution and measure, will win you treasure” vs. “Caution and measure will win you riches”. Or “Life is mostly strife” vs. “Life is mostly struggle”. Information in rhyme format was rated to be more accurate than the same information in non-rhyme format. Stories are in the same way easy to digest and therefore prevent the upcoming of objections.
The London School of Business found in a study that people usually memorize only five to ten percent of a presentation. But when they hear a story their memory increases to an incredible 65% – 70%. When we listen to a presentation with data and statistics and factual information, only the left side of the brain, the Broca’s area, is stimulated. This area is responsible for processing language and logic. In contrast, when we are hearing a story both the right and left sides are activated. Involving the two sides of our brain helps us to memorize information better.
Why is all of this relevant for sales? Because in sales we are not only selling a product but we have to convince the customer of our product. By using a story we attract attention because stories are entertaining. Speaking about people rather than data and facts, appeals to our social need of connecting to humans. Stories about people create emotions which get the customer involved. Stories are easy to digest and therefore prevent objections. And finally our customers memorize the benefits of our product much better when hearing them in a story. Are you ready to tell a story in your next sales meeting?
