“It doesn’t matter how great your solution or your technology or your product is. If they don’t get how it’s going to make their life better, it doesn’t matter at all. ” – Donna Griffit in today’s Tip 952
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Donna Griffit. Donna has worked globally for over 17 years with Fortune 500 companies, Start-Ups, and investors in a wide variety of industries in over 30 countries, helping create and deliver presentations, pitches, and messages, magically spinning raw data into compelling stories that captivate and drive to stellar results. Here she is:
Donna Griffit: People hear the word “Storyteller” and they think they know what it means, but they don’t really, and they don’t get why it’s so crucial for tale. Well, storytelling is probably the oldest arch form that can truly make a phenomenal difference in your sales. So if we go back years and years and years to Greek classics and Shakespeare familiar and check-up, they had a very specific structure of stories that’s how they told it. And it was pretty much like 3 – 4 act play where we have, the problem, the hero that would solve the problem for us. How the hero will go about solving it and the aftermath of it.
Sound familiar? Yes. It’s the typical problem-solution that we have in a sales deck. And people are like, “Yeah, it isn’t that so old, it’s been done.” Yeah, it’s old. It’s very, very old. It’s ancient, in fact. And there’s a reason that it works because that’s the way our brain is hardwired for taking in information. We are inundated with information all of the time. And for your prospects and your clients that think about how many pitches they’re getting in a week from companies like yours, not as yours, but of course, but like yours, you want to really stand out.
So first of all, one way you can do that is story tell in a way that fits the way their brain is used to taking information in buckets, in chunks. So start off talking about the problems in the industry, problems they might be facing. Companies like they might be facing. Two, how you address that problem now. It might be slightly different from industry to industry, vertical to vertical, but you really want to make it specific about them. And then when you demo it, show you can use a user story of one of your clients and how they’re using it and how it’s making their lives that much better. Then three, talk about a little bit more about the business, about the market, about your competitive edge, and how that really gives you something different without, of course, mentioning your competitors and how, you know, we don’t ever want to dis them. And then finally, the moving forward. What will that look like? What will feature engagement look like? What are the steps? How can we get started? So you really chunk the information into 4 act, like that play. And then you can weave all kinds of stories into it.
And why is that important? People don’t remember facts and figures and numbers. They remember, they don’t not gonna remember how many employees you have and how many offices you have and how many clients you have. What they will remember is specific success stories of how you have transformed your client’s lives. How you’ve made it better, how you save the money, how you save them time. How you save them downtime, how you’ve saved them churn. Whatever it is that you’re doing. So if you can relate a specific customer story, especially a customer that loves you, and that has a testimonial that is extremely glowing and that they can’t get enough of you. And it’s great because it’s a real name, and then they can actually vet it and check it out. That tells an extremely powerful story on your behalf. And you don’t talk about the origin story. You could talk about how it’s changed people’s lives. You can give metaphors that that kind of so how you are certain, like something to do with the weather or a sports team or something that sticks with them.
And I think the most important thing is it’s not about you. Okay, I know it’s hard to say, but it doesn’t matter how great your solution or your technology or your product is. If they don’t get how it’s going to make their life better, it doesn’t matter at all. So really try to get out of the space of, like, showing so much about the technology and demoing it from here to Kingdom come. Do you want to show them just enough that’ll make them excited about it. And I’ll make them want to see more and want to feel more. They don’t really care how it works and all the technology behind it. They just want to know that it works. Alright. You’re giving them something with true value.
So flip the script. Make it all about them. Make it about their needs and how you are there to meet their needs, just like you’ve done for other customers. Build the trust. Answer their questions before they even ask them. So think, what are the questions that we’ve gotten before? What are the questions that people ask and bake them into those 4 act.
Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Donna and to take her up on a special offer on her services for mentioning this podcast, just click over to DailySales.Tips/952.
Once you’ve done that, make sure you’re subscribed to the show, and be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!