A serious sales professional is always tweaking their stories, says Carter Young of SaleScout. “You have to always be learning and also sharing what didn’t work – not to undermine someone, but to create an environment that is safe enough for salespeople to share a really bad story and learn from that as well. That can create community on your team when everyone gets to share a really bad story.”
Stories should be “systemized,” just like any other process, says author Matthew Pollard. “A systemized process will always deliver predictable and improved sales over time. Create an organizational playbook of stories. If you properly niche your target audience and you have a planned presentation, the types of objections will be narrowed to three or four. Developing stories that produced the desired outcome can make the new salespeople as skilled at closing as the veterans of 30 years.”
Know when your story ends. “The biggest challenge marketers have is biting their tongues and only talking about what’s really important to their customer,” says Calum Coburn of The Negotiation Experts. “Most of your story doesn’t get told. Many find the most difficult thing is determining what to leave out.”
At the same time, don’t be afraid to go slow, Coburn says. “The best storytellers are comfortable taking their time – a three-minute story may take 30 minutes because you are having a conversation with the prospect.”
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