Stories for Work

Chapter 7 Stories that work for sales

In chapter 1 we saw the important role emotion plays when faced with a decision. Those of us who are very good at sales, therefore, know that people buy on emotion — not logic. Emotion is the key to a sale, no matter what the facts state.

Usually in sales conversations, you spend a lot of time on ‘small talk’ and swapping random personal stories to try to build rapport with your customer or a potential client. Building rapport with someone before you launch into what you really want them to buy not only is good business sense, but also makes scientific sense, especially when it comes to storytelling.

Stories are the fastest, easiest and most natural way to build rapport, and establish trust and credibility with someone. However, the stories you share in a sales context must have purpose and be authentic (as covered in chapter 2) because random small talk has not been properly thought through. Stories or conversation with no purpose are hit and miss.

A funny story you tell about getting angry with your teenager on the weekend because he came home drunk at 4 in the morning, for example, could backfire on you and demonstrate your lack of parenting skills or anger management issues. Link the story to a clear business message, however, and it will help develop some common ground with your customer.

Three ways to identify stories for sales

You always have room for spontaneity, especially when it comes to selling, but the trick here is to prepare. ...