photo credit: tboard

As humans we absolutely love a good story.  If you paid any attention to the DNC last week and the announcement of the republican nominee for Vice President you’ve heard a number of good stories.  Each nominee from both parties has shared a story telling the voters who they are.  There’s a reason for that and a reason it’s critically important for you in your business.

What I want you to realize is that stories are among the most powerful and effective sales and marketing tools you have at your disposal.  Every one can and should have a story.  Top producing businesses and sales people all have a great story to tell.

A wonderful thing about stories is they’re memorable and repeatable.  When your story resonates with your market they’ll pass your story on to others acting as an unpaid marketing force for you.  Stories that resonate are relevant, emotional, and meaningful to the listener.

Stories are a no risk way to connect with a prospect.  As long as you tell the right story to the right people at the right time for the right reasons you can powerfully make your point without triggering the listeners defenses.  The rewards from a good story are huge.

Stories increase your credibility.  They make you more likable.  They make you more trustworthy.  They make you easier to connect with.

One of my favorite stories as a little girl was the tale of Chicken Little.  An acorn fell on Chicken Littles head.  She was convinced the sky was falling and ran to tell all her friends.  Turkey Lurkey, Goosey Loosey, and Ducky Lucky took Chicken Little at face value and ran with her to tell the King about this terrible crisis.  Along the way Foxey Loxey met up with the frightened group and offered them safety in his fox lair.  The Kings dogs came along and chased Foxey Loxey away just in time.  To this day Chicken Little carries an umbrella as she walks through the woods.   This story makes a point without having to spell it out for you in explicit language.  Good stories make the right points for you at the right time in your marketing communications and sales conversations.

Top producing businesses understand your story can carve out the space you own in a prospects mind.  Coke generated curiosity and interest when they shared the story of how their beverage was originally formulated by a pharmacist who sold the top secret formula to them.  Then they created the story of how Coke brought the world together.  Then they developed the whole rivalry story with Pepsi over which drink is preferred.  You can use story to carve out your space too and keep your prospects excited and engaged in your business.

Would you like to hear the stories of the top producers?  (click here –>) to Hear it from the Experts yourself.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under coaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.