A Marketing Mix

Story time isn’t just for kids. In my analysis, top sales reps use stories at almost every stage of a deal -- clarifying the product, overcoming objections, answering questions. No matter what step they’re at or what the issue might be, they have a story on hand.

But the powerful art of sales storytelling is only mastered by a few. One reason is that salespeople aren’t taught how to talk about case studies and other marketing content as stories. It’s great to create written case studies, film an accompanying video or two, and put those resources on the website for potential customers. But the next step should be to provide training that walks salespeople through the talking points in the context of a story.

Also, too many sales reps use case studies as a way to puff out their chests. But they’re much more effectively put to use as a way to talk through challenges from the buyer’s perspective. Less “look how great my company is” and more “here’s how our client’s life got better thanks to our help.”

Here are the elements that should be in every sales story, to help both sales and marketing determine how to structure these valuable tales....

Via Jeff Domansky