Recently, I came across an ad that was selling a service. Unlike most ads, it started with a story about a father and his son. They began a tradition of writing down stories and memories so they could be remembered in the future. The ad then transitioned to what their product was: a service that combined memories into a keepsake book. Because they introduced their product with a story, I was more willing to check it out and still remember it today. Undoubtedly, the art of storytelling is a valuable skill for effective selling. Many who work in sales would likely agree. In fact, if you google “story telling” the first website is an article by Bronwyn Fryer in Harvard’s Business Review: “Storytelling That Moves People.” Fryer makes a salient point, stating, “Too often, [customers] get lost in the accouterments of company speak: PowerPoint slides, dry memos, and hyperbolic missives from the corporate communications department.” Clearly, this traditionalist form of selling is boring. How can we then excite customers? The answer, fryer suggests, is stories. If you think about it, this makes sense. We all love stories, evident through our culture’s consumption of entertainment. Movies, books, and tv shows easily attract our attention because of their use of stories. Of course, a sales pitch will never be as entertaining as a movie; however, modeling it after one may make customers feel more comfortable. Stories can also be communicated in less time and in more mediums compared to other sales techniques. They can be presented on a video, graphic, billboard, and more—something a PowerPoint cannot always do. Most importantly, stories inspire. Customers may be more willing to select a product introduced by a story to feel like they too are a part of the narrative.
Here is a video to learn how to use storytelling in sales:
Sources
https://hbr.org/2003/06/storytelling-that-moves-people
https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-leverage-storytelling-to-increase-your-conversions/
testacr22
I loved your article. When the world shut down companies had to reevaluate how they approach ads. This changed the way how commercials were produced. Instead of paid actors in a studio, it was real people in low-quality videos saying how they really felt about the company they worked for. At a time the world felt disconnected, these ads that would usually be seen as an annoyance were now connecting us more. I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry while watching these commercials because of the real and genuine stories they told about the people behind the company.
This was a very interesting article. I find that I too (and it seems like a fair bit of customers) are more interested in the story that a company tells initially then facts or statistics about the product or service that they are selling. I think this strategy helps the customer to better understand the company’s mission and goal for the products that they are making or for the services they are providing, which enables sellers to become more attached to a product or service when shopping. Nice article!
I think this is so true that in businesses is really depends on the advertising of the business in order to get people to buy there product. Stories are what draws people in. Great Post!
I thought you had a lot of really interesting things to say. The one thing that stood out to me the most was this quote: “Of course, a sales pitch will never be as entertaining as a movie; however, modeling it after one may make customers feel more comfortable.” This was such a good way of putting give the people what they want. Overall, I agree that modeling a sales pitch after a movie will encourage customer engagement in whatever you are trying to sell
Good post. I like your point about how stories are elastic and can be told through a variety of different media. I recently saw that same ad you mentioned and thought its use of story was very powerful–so much so that I told other people about that ad. Another effective use of story in an ad was one I saw on Christmas morning where you can buy someone land in Scotland and make them a Scottish lord or lady. The ad was basically a string of home videos of people getting this gift. After showing it to some of my siblings, we purchased it for our sister then and there.
Having stories be a main part of you selling strategy can be very helpful. I always find it compelling when a company uses either the founder’s story or a customer’s story in their sales pitch. It makes the whole thing more personal and easier to relate to as a customer in my opinion.