"Express Your Feelings Through Third Party Stories!"
Sam is a sales person for the ABC widget company. He is presenting to Bob – owner of the Acme Tool Company. Sam says, “Bob, these widgets are proven to be the best! No failures… and extra durability that adds 30% to your profits!” Does this sound like a sale? Probably not.
Let’s rewind to a different approach – it sounds like this: “Bob, not sure how these widgets will work for you – but last quarter, Spacely Sprockets started using them and with their increased durability – they got a 30% boost in their margins.” Prospects will always find the experience of others to be more credible than our ideas about what’s best for them. Consequently, the third party story is likely believable – a sales pitch is not!
Third party stories remove you and the prospect from the interaction. Stories also facilitate the prospect visualizing the use of your service or product. Using a story when the prospect wants proof of concept increases your credibility. The prospect asks “How will this help me?” You answer – “not sure – but we installed three of these at ABC Company last month and they solved their problems.” Stories can be crafted to take the interaction to a new level – where you and the prospect can analyze the situation without pushback.
If you wish to learn more about how to shorten your sales cycles in a slow economy, then join us for “Growing Your Sales & Profits In A Recovering Economy” on June 30, 2010. For more information go to http://top-biz-events.info/bmd.
Let’s rewind to a different approach – it sounds like this: “Bob, not sure how these widgets will work for you – but last quarter, Spacely Sprockets started using them and with their increased durability – they got a 30% boost in their margins.” Prospects will always find the experience of others to be more credible than our ideas about what’s best for them. Consequently, the third party story is likely believable – a sales pitch is not!
Third party stories remove you and the prospect from the interaction. Stories also facilitate the prospect visualizing the use of your service or product. Using a story when the prospect wants proof of concept increases your credibility. The prospect asks “How will this help me?” You answer – “not sure – but we installed three of these at ABC Company last month and they solved their problems.” Stories can be crafted to take the interaction to a new level – where you and the prospect can analyze the situation without pushback.
If you wish to learn more about how to shorten your sales cycles in a slow economy, then join us for “Growing Your Sales & Profits In A Recovering Economy” on June 30, 2010. For more information go to http://top-biz-events.info/bmd.
