How to Sell with Stories
It was the worst day of my life. We were having our house painted, and before the painters arrived, I was rushing to crank open all of the worn 50-year-old casement windows so they could get started. In my haste to grab breakfast, change my daughter’s diaper, and get out the door, I cranked open several in quick succession, but then I got to the fifth window. While cranking it open with my right hand, I gently pushed the frame open with my left. This ancient window was stuck from the last paint job, and as I nudged it, the glass shattered. A large hunk of glass broke off and sliced through the flesh of my forearm, and in an instant three tendons and a nerve were severed.
Do I have your attention? Do you want to find out what happened? (Spoiler alert – I’m typing this with both hands, so read on for a happy ending.) In all likelihood, this story grabbed you emotionally. Perhaps you even reflexively winced while visualizing the glass falling like a guillotine?
A book I recommend, “Conversations That Win the Complex Sale” by Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer, reinforces that storytelling like this – emotional, relatable, visual – exerts powerful influence over prospects in a sales pitch. But their teachings could just as easily be applied to other scenarios (content marketing, social posts, emails, speeches).
Now imagine for a minute that I’m a seller for Renewal by Andersen replacement windows. Peterson and Reisterer counsel that it’s essential to set up a three-sided wedge of arguments to articulate your solution to any prospect, what they call power positions. The power positions must be important to your prospect, unique to you, and defensible against competition.
Following their advice, when approaching someone about upgrading their old casement windows, I would lead with a personal story like the one about my arm that immediately grabs their attention. It sets up the argument that new Andersen windows aren’t just about saving money with better green technology (which the competition also has); they are about peace of mind because of their incredibly safe shatter-proof glass that won’t harm you or your family (which the competition doesn’t have, in my imaginary scenario).
To prevent your prospects from choosing a competitor or the status quo, the authors emphasize engaging them throughout your pitch with techniques that include what-if-you questions, number plays, customer stories with contrast, big picture illustrations, and even physical props (please, no severed mannequin arms!).
Telling your own success stories that contrast a customer's before/problem state with their after/solution state and demonstrate how they moved from a pain to a gain, and the proof that it worked, are the most valuable. These stories aren’t mere case studies; they are meant to shake your prospect out of denial, empathize with the stories, and see themselves in the role of hero in their own similar story. The objective is for your prospects to admit that their own situation isn’t great right now, and they should follow you to the promised land. In some respects, this is the same strategic narrative framework popularized by Andy Raskin, author of The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen.
Peterson and Reisterer can, at times, come across like a couple of wolves explaining how to eat up as many sheep in the flock as possible. But their book isn’t a guide for seller predators to kill more customer prey; their insights are grounded in neuroscience. Because prospects are primarily motivated by Old Brain fight or flight impulses, not rational neocortex processing, convincing them your solution will not kill them and will help them stay safer longer, can be achieved through stories that leverage emotion, contrast, visuals, simplicity, and make it personal.
It’s a similar premise found in “The Persuasion Code” by Patrick Renvoise, a proponent of neuromarketing who relates how we are 99% at the mercy of our primal brains which are most stimulated by visuals (30% of our 100 billion neurons are dedicated to visual processing). If you’ve found yourself binge watching a series on HBO Max or Disney+, unable to stop consuming the stories as they unfold, then you can relate. When was the last time a prospect was hanging on to every word in your pitch the way you want to find out what Baby Yoda does next? That’s the lofty goal to which Peterson and Reisterer’s book aspires.
It was the best day of my life. Running to the rescue and grabbing my arm between his hands, my neighbor, a state policeman, was able to stop the bleeding while my wife called 911. The EMTs, both experienced Iraq War veterans, arrived quickly. The ambulance sped to Mass General Hospital where a top-ranked arm surgeon saved my arm, explaining that the cut missed a vital artery by millimeters.