Times and things have changed. You cannot assume that having a service or product that solves problems is enough for your clients. Sounds untrue.
If you want your brand to stand out and resonate with your customers, you should do exactly what we do when communicating. But what do we do? We tell stories.
Of course, this does not mean that you have to read bedtime stories to your stakeholders, customers, or clients. You would not make even a single sale reading such stories!
Instead, storytelling in your sales pitch means you use a human connection to engage with your customers and direct them in a specific direction.
So, do you use storytelling in your sales pitch? Do you even know why you should be using them or how to use them?
Here is the impact of effective storytelling on your sales pitch.
A good example of storytelling was shown by Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn. They listed objects with well-written and heartfelt stories on eBay and made about $8,000. They had spent only $1.50 on each of these items.
If you are running a business, you understand how you can easily get lost in different things, especially if you are not careful. Chances are that you share content with your customers, but did you know that this can get out of hand at times?
So what do you do when your content-sharing strategies don’t seem to work as you expected? Well, you can stand out from your competitors by just telling stories. However, you have to make sure that you are telling a great story.
It does not matter the size of your business – you can use this strategy to win over customers. One of the best ways for this is through webinars. But before diving in too deep, ensure that you have implemented the right ideas to promote your webinar.
You can tell stories to your audiences as much as you want, but the best stories are the ones that create emotional reactions. If you manage to tell good stories, your audiences will not only relate and connect to your business but will also believe in what you tell them.
But what kind of stories can you tell? Well, even though you should tell different stories, prioritize the ones that focus on your business struggles, failures, and mistakes you have made in the past.
If you do this, you will be showing your audiences that your business is normal, just like any other. They will even understand you more since they know how it feels to fail and get back up to success.
One of the best storytellers of today running a multinational company is Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder. See how successful he has been over the past decade or two! You can also get there with storytelling.
According to psychologist Jerome Bruner and Forbes, a human’s brain is twenty-two times more likely to remember something if it is presented through storytelling. This is because humans have something to tell with stories.
For instance, you can take advantage of things like a climax, suspense, emotional moments, and a narrative, among many others. Let us take an example where you are making a presentation to a group of people about your products.
If you want to make sure that the people are engaged and can remember what you are talking about, then you have to tell stories in between the presentation. Even if they forget some of the things in your presentation, chances are that they will not forget the stories.
Let us take the example of Bill Gates, Microsoft’s Founder. In a 2009 Ted Talk, he made a malaria presentation with so many statistics. However, he let free mosquitos from a jar during the presentation. What do you think most people remember from the presentation?
If you have a new product or service in your business, chances are that you have a story for them. You should think about how you can use this story to convince your audiences to buy from you.
If, for instance, your service is supposed to address a specific problem, make sure that you have told your audience how the service helped you. Tell the story in a way they can relate to and use real-life examples.
This is an important impact of storytelling on your sales pitch. If you nail it, you will find it easy to connect and communicate with your customers. Connecting with them means that they will find it easy to trust you.
One person who was very good at this was Steve Jobs. When he launched the iPhone in 2007, he had to find a way of connecting with his audience. He explained how irritating it was to have three devices with you (for internet, music, and calls) instead of just a single device, the iPhone.
Of course, you will have numbers when making your sales pitch. There is no way in this article we are going to dispute the fact that you need statistics and numbers. However, these numbers will mean more to your audience if you put them around a story.
Assume you were the one listening to the sales pitch. Would you spend an hour or two listening to sophisticated data and numbers? Most likely not. You would either get bored or even leave the presentation. You do not want this happening to you.
According to studies, the human brain gets engaged more through storytelling than facts. For instance, we can process an image up to sixty times faster than we can with words or just data.
However, when it comes to storytelling, we activate all parts of our brains. It means that we can remember every aspect of the story. This is the same effect you have on your customers through storytelling in your sales pitch.
As discussed above, you can use storytelling to create connections with your audiences and build long-lasting relationships. It shows how powerful storytelling can be when used right.
Did you even know that it is better for you to create an emotional connection with your customers compared to customer satisfaction? This is something you might need when creating marketing campaigns.
You should forget about traditional tactics and instead employ storytelling. Before your sales pitch, you should create a marketing campaign to attract potential customers. In such a case, ensure that you have used storytelling effectively.
A good example of storytelling in a marketing campaign was used by Airbnb. They told an emotional story about the falling of the Berlin Wall and created a narrative of a reunion between a father and an opposing guard. Watch the story on YouTube to see how effective storytelling can be in creating great marketing campaigns.
As you can see above, the impact of effective storytelling on your sales pitch cannot be underestimated. If you are not already using them, you are missing out on a lot and giving your competitors an easy time. Start using them today, and you will realize how important they are!
