{"id":1992,"date":"2009-04-01T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-01T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/04\/storytellers\/"},"modified":"2009-04-01T13:58:55","modified_gmt":"2009-04-01T18:58:55","slug":"storytellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/04\/storytellers\/","title":{"rendered":"Storytellers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This <a href=\"http:\/\/www.salesopedia.com\/index.php\/communications-articles1-10708\/52-presentation-skills\/1311-story-telling-how-telling-compelling-stories-can-help-you-close-business\" target=\"_blank\">sales-focused article from the Salesopedia.com website<\/a> discusses the power of telling stories when selling:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Think about it: If you were in the audience for another sales person&#8217;s sales presentation, which kind would you rather listen to: one in which the presenter simply recited a list of features and benefits, facts and statistics, or one that included a stimulating, engaging, riveting, or inspiring story about how you helped another customer solve a problem similar to the one with which you&#8217;ve been wrestling, or achieved an outcome you&#8217;re looking to achieve? Which would move you, and which would bore you? Which would be memorable, and which would be forgettable?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Stories are far more effective than feature\/benefit data dumps.I used to work for a sales trainer who is a master of telling an engaging, purposeful story and people remember them.\u00a0 In fact, one customer went through the training more than 5+ years ago, but he still remembers a very specific story about commoditization.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This approach is also supported by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.copyblogger.com\/how-to-tell-the-truth\/#more-2672\" target=\"_blank\">CopyBlogger in this post<\/a>.\u00a0 Brian couches the discussion around truth-telling which is clearly relevant in sales (though not as widely practiced).\u00a0 The take-away:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But if people reject what you say, truth or not, you\u2019re back where you started.<\/p>\n<p>Guys like Buddha and Jesus had this problem.<\/p>\n<p>The solution remains the same.<\/p>\n<p>Tell a story.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The power in the story is the ability to make a direct point indirectly.\u00a0 When dealing with difficult sales situations, this is a tremendous tool for a salesperson to use.\u00a0 One other note \u2013 the salesperson\u2019s ability to use this tool is evident in a well-structured sales interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This sales-focused article from the Salesopedia.com website discusses the power of telling stories when selling: Think about it: If you were in the audience for another sales person&#8217;s sales presentation, which kind would you rather listen to: one in which the presenter simply recited a list of features and benefits, facts and statistics, or one that included a stimulating, engaging, riveting, or inspiring story about how you helped another customer solve a problem similar to the one with which you&#8217;ve been wrestling, or achieved an outcome you&#8217;re looking to achieve? Which would move you, and which would bore you? Which would be memorable, and which would be forgettable? Stories are&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/04\/storytellers\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[212,446,142,1036,1301,1302],"class_list":["post-1992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-techniques","tag-sales-ability","tag-sales-interview","tag-sales-technique","tag-sales-tool","tag-story-telling","tag-story-telling-sales"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-w8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1661,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/fictitious-selling\/","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":0},"title":"Fictitious Selling","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ok, the title is a bit of a minomer.\u00a0 The reference is to a Kelley Robertson post on the S&MM SoundOff blog.\u00a0 He provides 3 sales tips based on a fiction writer's boot camp he recently attended. Here is an abridged version of those tips (my bold): Start with a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1713,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/08\/required-skills-sales-ability\/","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":1},"title":"Required Skills-Sales Ability","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"From an ad for a National Sales Manager: Required Skills: 1. Product knowledge. The ad lists 3 other \"non-sales\" skills.\u00a0 Sales is that strange position where many hiring managers focus on skills other than selling.\u00a0 Is it any wonder there are so many sales hiring horror stories?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Employment Ads&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2221,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/12\/sales-stories-of-2009\/","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":2},"title":"Sales Stories Of 2009","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I, for one, am ready to say good riddance to 2009.\u00a0 This year was the most difficult I can ever remember in terms of revenue, business and the economy.\u00a0 I suppose the one good thing is that it can only get better! However, it is the end of the year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1127,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/08\/scarcity-of-quality-sales-candidates\/","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":3},"title":"Scarcity Of Quality Sales Candidates","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"No surprises here from the ManageSmarter.com article - Roundin' Up Reps. Our clients often ask us what the employment market is like right now. For most of this year we have been telling them it is a candidate's market right now. Some seem surprised while others seem to be familiar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2589,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2015\/06\/cultural-qualifying\/","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":4},"title":"Cultural Qualifying","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I ran into an old coworker, whom I consider a good friend, at a coffee shop this Friday morning.\u00a0 He is the VP of Sales with 75 or so direct reports.\u00a0 His company is international with a majority of their revenue occurring in Asia. He was telling me about sales\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assessing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56110,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2019\/10\/gathering-giving\/","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":5},"title":"Gathering > Giving","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"October 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This statement is going to sound blunt, but gathering information is always more important than giving information in a selling process. \u00a0This truth may sound counterintuitive to the stereotypical sales process. \u00a0However, it is crucial to understand this approach. The stereotypical thought is that good talkers make good salespeople. \u00a0I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Listening.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Listening.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Listening.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1993,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions\/1993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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