Successful business leaders will tell you they learned from personal experiences that stories beat the unfeeling facts and figures in a PowerPoint presentation every time. It is true for Peter Guber of film, entertainment, and sports, and Paul Smith former executive of Proctor and Gamble
Both men tell how they had a great business opportunity with facts to communicate that it was a solid deal, but they lost the business. In his book, Tell to Win, Peter relates how he had provided a deluge of raw data about a deal to bring a Triple-A franchise of the LA Dodgers to Las Vegas. He proposed building a stadium and elevating the status of the team. Peter said he had killer data, but he never made it to first base with the Las Vegas mayor.
In Paul’s case, he had the opportunity to deliver a presentation to L.A. Lafley, CEO of P&G. Paul arrived early and set the room perfectly for the event. Then he was shocked when the CEO walked around the room, greeted all of the attendees, and choose the seat under the projection screen. During the 20-minute presentation, Lafley listened to Paul’s words, but he never looked at Paul’s slides on the screen. He did approve Paul’s proposal, but Paul still felt like he failed somehow.
Lessons Learned
Both men realized after their presentations that the secret ingredient they were missing was a story. However, not the typical what happens next type of story. It must be one that is simple in structure yet ignites your inner fire and inspires the listener to take action. This blog post includes three tips to help you deliver inspiring stories that connect and motivate your customers.
Step One: Grab Their Attention
You won’t hook your audience into listening to your story unless they sense some compelling challenge or fact in the beginning. So, ask an engaging question, one that gets them thinking and involved at the start. Questions make it a conversation and set the tone for participation and collaboration. Audiences want to be involved, not just sit and listen. Your questions need to be meaningful, not patronizing or insulting. Know why you are asking the question and what response you expect from your audience. Do you want to provide insight, introduce a controversy, or determine the level of the audience’s knowledge of the subject? You can also begin with an unexpected challenge. For example, Steve Jobs opened his iPhone launch describing the problems of making a smartphone actually smart and easy to use. A smart easy to use mobile phone was something not available at the time of the launch.
In this section, you will also want to tell why you are sharing this story. The customer needs to understand that you are not wasting his or her valuable time. Your story must be connected to the current conversation or the point you are about to make.
Step Two: Describe the Struggle or Challenge and Make it Relatable
This phase in your story is where the hero faces the challenge or problem. It should not be explained as something too complicated or in difficult terms. Both Steve Jobs and Elon Musk described complex innovations in simple terms that a child in third or fourth grade could understand. Musk explained that existing batteries were unreliable, and expensive, whereas his solar-powered batteries take energy from the sun and provide power when you need it. At the introduction of the iPod, Jobs famously explained Napster and Kazaa offered songs for free. Neither company paid royalties to the creators through BMI or ASCAP (unethical, not to mention inviting bad karma). These “stolen” songs were of unreliable quality, unreliable downloads, and offered no previews or album covers. His solution was an iPod with a thousand legal songs in your pocket for just 99 cents each. Jobs repeated his success with the MacBook Air. Apple found that people hated hauling around bulky notebook computers. So, Apple developed the MacBook Air. Jobs introduced it as “the world’s thinnest notebook.”
Tony Robbins follows a similar storytelling process. I have several of his DVD programs. This story comes from one of them. (This story is also available online @ https://www.goalcast.com/2019/01/16/how-the-worlds-most-successful-people-set-goals/). Tony tells how at age 19, he was jobless, overweight, and broke both financially and emotionally. He was living in a 400 square foot apartment and decided he needed to make a change. Tony tells how he created a strategy for success and totally dedicated himself to achieving his goals. Today, Tony is a billionaire with followers around the world.
What You Can Learn From Them
Musk and Jobs and Robbins provided a problem to which their audience could relate. None of them used industry jargon, annoying business expressions, or technical terms. Therefore, the audience could envision the challenges and solutions. It is the ability to envision themselves in the situation and to connect with the hero that captures the heart of the listener. It also captures the emotional side of the mind of the listener. It is the data that connects with the logical side of their brain.
Step Three: Electrify Your Audience With a Call to Action
To succeed, you have to convince your audience to support your vision, dream, or cause. Therefore, it is critical that you tell your audience what you want them to do at the end of your story. It has to be clear and specific. It may be as simple as signing an order, registering for an activity, or assembling for an event such as a race to support a favorite charity.
It must also be easy to get started. So, arrange to supply paper and a pencil. The audience will want to make notes on what they plan to do or change after the presentation. If appropriate to the situation, you may also want to gather names and contact information to publish an action sheet after your talk.
When the audience commitment is published, they are more likely to follow through. You can also ask the audience to engage a friend, colleague, or family member as an accountability partner. This strategy works well in the case of enterprise-wide solutions, charitable organizations, or political efforts where multiple people are responsible for various tasks to ensure a deadline is met.
Getting Started
You can learn more about the value of storytelling and how to close more sales by crafting and telling a good story. Get our FREE mini-course on Why Storytelling is Critical to Your Success. We filled it with tools and tips to help get started. https://salestrainingsolutions.com/courses
If you find it helpful, you can enroll in our full Presentation Skills and Storytelling video course that takes you step-by-step to successful storytelling.
About the Authors: Phyllis Mikolaitis and her business partner John Switzer are speakers, storytellers, sales coaches, and training developers, each with over 30 years’ global experience. They are dedicated to helping you learn the latest persuasion techniques incorporating insights and stories to win the sale.