Storytelling in Sales
Witnessing one of the best sales storytelling transformations of my life.
Following our experience, one thing has become clear to me: my husband has been kidnapped and replaced with an impostor. A cologne-buying alien. A cologne, to be clear, Michael hasn’t even smelled. Truly, though, I know better. There is nothing alien about what happened to Michael in that Slovenian shop. In fact, his response to the clerk’s efforts was the most human thing that could have happened. Because stronger than a man’s desire to keep his wallet closed . . .
More charming than JFK himself . . . Is the irresistible power of a story.
A perfectly placed, impeccably delivered story can transport a person to a place beyond interested, straight past paying attention, and into a state of complete captivation. The “can’t look away” kind. The “holy crap, I just missed my exit” kind. In these moments of story we are, like my husband that evening, seized in a way that feels almost beyond our control. There’s a reason it feels that way. As we’ll see, when it comes to a great story, we really can’t help ourselves. From the moment the sales clerk in that boutique began to tell the Eight & Bob story, a shift happened in us: a shift in our understanding, a shift in our desires. This is the shift so many of us seek. Far beyond buying a bottle of cologne, the shift a story can make has a profound impact on business. It turns customers into converts. It transforms employees into evangelists. Executives into leaders. It changes the nature and impact of marketing, and perhaps most importantly, it can change how we see ourselves. How that shift happens and how you can create it by harnessing the power of storytelling are what Stories That Stick is about.
