businesswoman holding a card with text STORY TELLING
By Dave Fellman
I think it’s fair to say that most salespeople use a presentation style as opposed to a consultative style. What’s the difference? In a presentation style, the seller tells the buyer all about products or services or capabilities. In a consultative style, the seller asks the buyer about wants and needs. In a presentation style, the seller is saying: “Here’s what I think you need to know, now please make a decision.” In a consultative style, the seller is saying: “By asking the right questions and providing you with specific answers, I think I can help you to make the best possible decision.”
Which of these styles would you rather be on the buying side of? And isn’t it also true that the more one person talks in any selling conversation, the less the other person is likely to listen. Think back on the last time a person you were talking to dominated any part of the conversation. Did you really listen to everything that was said, or were you thinking more about what you wanted to say?
Storytelling
Even in a consultative style, there comes a point where the seller must present a proposal. There’s a difference, though, between starting with a presentation and finishing with one. In a consultative style, the tailored presentation comes after the needs analysis: “Based on what you’ve told me about your wants and needs, this is what I think you should do.”
Now, here‘s where the storytelling comes in. With all due respect to Star Trek, very few humans really want to go where no one has gone before. Print buyers especially want to make safe choices.
So how do you convince a buyer that you are a safe choice? Here’s a story/strategy that might do the trick: “Mr. Fellman, I have a story I would like to tell you. John Smith started this company almost 35 years ago. It was a ‘blueprint’ shop, and pretty limited in its capabilities. But John always paid attention to what was going on in the marketplace and in the industry, and when he started seeing change and opportunity, he started investing in technology that would let him do new things, the right way, with greater efficiency, producing better and better quality. John likes to say that he made every possible mistake during those early years, but he thinks he learned how not to make them again. So, I guess I am asking you, do we sound like the kind of company you would like to work with?”
Yes, ultimately this is a sales pitch — a set of words used by a salesperson to get someone to buy something. So maybe the question is this, does the storytelling element make it a better pitch, one more likely to get the desired result? Obviously I think so, and I hope you’ll start thinking about incorporating some storytelling into your own selling.
Dave Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, Cary, NC, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact Dave by phone at 919-363-4068 or by e-mail at dmf@davefellman.com. Visit his website at www.davefellman.com.