Story-Based Selling: Create, Connect, and Close by Jeff Bloomfield

Author:Jeff Bloomfield
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: SelectBooks
Published: 2014-05-27T16:00:00+00:00

“Never tell a story without a point. Never make a point without a story.”

—WILLIE “PAPAW” BLOOMFIELD

You need to develop a “bank” of two-tothree relation-focused and persuasion-focused stories. Make sure you’re using a balance of the four techniques (personal illustrations, metaphors, analogies/similes, and visual aids) and make sure your stories follow the story lifeline. Over time, you will become better and better at creating stories on the fly, in the moment, that are perfect for that specific listener. Until such time, it’s good to have a few “go-to” stories to share when the anxiety kicks in and the stress takes over.

There is a larger purpose occurring while you are going through the narrative—called the “big story.” Think about a family vacation. More specifically, think about National Lampoon’s Vacation. The purpose was to get away as a family. Chevy Chase going to Wally World, but there are sub-stories from Aunt Edna, to Cousin Eddie, to Christie Brinkley trying to seduce Clark Griswold. If you don’t get this reference, you are either really young or have some homework to do once you finish reading this book. If those sub-stories follow the Story Lifeline consistently, they help build the larger narrative more effectively.

How you get your customer to Wally World is the result of how effective you use the stories. You want your customer to go to Wally World with you, so you may have to tell a story just to get him in the Family Truckster!

Next, see if you can tell your company’s story utilizing SBS techniques. Try to follow the Story Lifeline as well as you possibly can. The key is to allow your company to take on almost “human” characteristics. That’s how your customer will relate. Instead of simply reading your annual report, line by line or the “about us” tab on your website, try something a bit different. Let’s look at a before SBS and after SBS company story example.

Before:

Mr. Jones, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with my company, Sellulots, Inc. We were founded in 1985 by James Lots. We grew from 15 employees to the 2000 we have today. We went public in 1995 and today our stock trades at $100 per share. We first introduced our flagship product, Compuclean in 1990 and it is now the #1 corporate security software in the U.S.A. We have over 50,000 customers and a strong reputation for service. Would you like to be customer 50,001?

How many of you are reading this and thinking, “I never tell my company story like that!!” I bet it’s not too far off—is it, really? When you tell your company story, always be mindful of the lingering question in the back of your customer’s mind every step of the way: “So what!” Re-read the story above now from the perspective of the customer and ask “So what?” after each point. Do you see it now? No connection. Left-brained. Let’s try it a different way:

After:

Mr. Jones, I loved reading the story of your company on your website.

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