Who doesn’t like a good story? All of us love listening to stories whether verbal or written, and telling stories is one of the most effective B2B sales techniques. Great storytellers captivate an audience and are able to convey passion and emotion through their stories. They bring the reader or listener to where the story happened and help them feel it. For your B2B sales techniques, stories are a great way of helping a prospect understand the value you can provide. You may not be the next Barack Obama or Winston Churchill and be bestowed with fantastic oratory skills, but I am sure, with practice you can weave a story based on truth, fact and one that provides your prospect with insight into how your product or service can drive value for them.
Why do stories help sell?
They are stickier than just a plain old brochure or PowerPoint deck.
Did you ever notice that when you sat through a presentation you may have forgotten the 25 slides the presenter went through but you remember at least a bit of the story he told (if it was good that is)?
So think about that for a minute. The deck you are presenting may be great but I bet the recipient, days later, will have an easier time remembering a relatable story vs just the functional content you were mentioning on slide 12. If done well, stories stick. They resonate with the prospect. Obviously, the stories you are telling need to be relatable and relevant to the prospect.
They convey emotion, values, culture.
How you deliver your story matters and there isn’t a one way fits all model. If you convey your story articulately, with passion, emotion, confidence, truth and caring, I am going to bet it will be well received. Stories about how you supported a client post sale or how your product helped them grow all make for great stories. Layer in some passion, emotion, true caring and then you have something that they will remember. The details of your story will also help to convey the values your company carries and the culture that is infused with it.
They are relatable.
When speaking to your audience, whether it is one person or you are speaking to a group, you need to make your story relatable. Telling a story about luxury vacations to a group of service technicians will probably not resonate well. Tell a story that would make sense to your audience, where they could envision themselves as a part of. Ensure you get to the point as well and articulate the “why” of the story. That basically means ensure you cover and highlight the key points on how your product helped the customer. If you can, add in quantitative components such as cost savings, revenue growth numbers and so forth.
They convey honesty and expectations.
Don’t oversell in your B2B sales techniques. Be honest in your story and approach. That is always the best policy. Be willing to provide references too. That can go a long way. There is an old adage out there that says “Better to undersell and over deliver”. In many ways that makes a ton of sense but maybe don’t undersell but “rightly sell.”
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