Creating trust and connecting to clients and prospects is an enduring and effective sales strategy. If your salespeople aren’t connecting with your clients and being viewed as trusted advisors, they’re likely to be losing business. Effective salespeople are able to move between initiating new ideas and responding to the needs of their client with agility and confidence. So how can your sales teams build trust, demonstrate confidence, and be flexible and agile at the same time? Storytelling. Storytelling is a powerful sales tool that can: Develop strong relationships Paint a clear picture of success for clients or prospects Facilitate the client making an emotional connection to your brand or service. Storytelling is a powerful tool for creating connection—neuroscience proves it! When humans listen to stories, the same areas of both the speaker’s and the lightener’s brain “light up”—even though one is producing information and the other is receiving it. This creates coherence and ensures that you and your listener are on the same page. Furthermore, when humans listen to engaging stories, our bodies release a neurochemical called oxytocin that’s associated with connectedness and trust. This boost in trust and empathy allows sales people to build stronger relationships with clients and prospects—a crucial aspect of sales.
When I was 19 years old I was madly in love with Sandra (Sandy) from afar. I eventually got the courage to ask Sandy out on a date, and to my complete amazement, she agreed. This was a high stakes situation for me and I wanted to impress. So on our first date I decided to pick her up from her parents’ home in a Mercedes Benz. No, it wasn’t my car, but belonged to the parents of my closest buddy at the time. And yes his parents were away overseas so the coast was clear. The first predicament I found myself in occurred early. Picking Sandy up from her parent’s home, her father opened the door to greet me and saw a shining red Mercedes Benz in his driveway. “Is that your car?” he asked. Being a naïve 19 year old I hadn’t considered being asked this question. How do I respond? Do I lie and say yes? Or do I show my hand as a complete fraud and fess up to the fact I borrowed it from a mate to impress Sandy and her parents? What did I do? We will come to that later. I guess I am no different to most other people who from an early age try and project themselves as something more than who and what they really are. We put on a mask to pretend to be someone or something else, perhaps to cover up our insecurities and vulnerabilities. Masks People Wear I am now older and wiser (arguably!) and I have come to learn that these masks we wear also appear in our corporate world. As a business leader, consultant and executive coach I interact with people at many levels. I frequently come across the various masks each person wears, trying to portray an image of something they may not really be. Masks that show ‘aggression’ or ‘funny’ or ‘indifference’ or ‘tough nut’ or ‘controlled’ among many others. As an example, a manager I was working with (Jamie) didn’t outwardly show his passion and excitement to his team. When we took a deeper dive as to the cause of this reluctance, we discovered he had developed a strong belief from previous managers that one should never bring emotions into work. He believed that expressing feelings undermines authority and was irrational. I’m sure you have heard people use that phrase “leave your feelings at the door”. Accordingly he had unconsciously built a persona at work as analytical and controlled, dispassionate and sometimes aloof. He took off this mask in a non-business situation. Whether with his family or friends, he was much more relaxed and where he was able to express feelings and his passion for many things. He laughed more. We came to the realisation that Jamie’s business persona – his mask – was actually holding back the engagement levels in his team. It was also causing him anxiety as he often felt constrained by this mask he chose to wear. Jamie slowly changed and discovered that by showing his real self – his sincere excitement and other emotions – made a huge difference in the climate in his team. One of Jamie’s direct reports said to me “We look to Jaimie as a gauge of how the business is tracking. Previously we didn’t think he was all that interested, but recently we are starting to see that he is backing this new product line and we are with him all the way – and probably for the first time since I’ve been working for him. The team is much more galvanised now that Jamie comes across more enthusiastic about things and that is rubbing off on all of us.” Additionally Jaime felt liberated that he had discovered a way to be his authentic self.
Told any good stories lately? No? Well you might want to start. Professionals often use stories to connect with the hearts and minds of their clients to influence action, and here we explain our formula for business storytelling. The Power of Storytelling A powerful communication tool, stories can: Capture attention Build trust and credibility Deliver messages and insights with impact Differentiate your team in an increasingly commoditised world. Business discussions and presentations can easily fall into facts-and-figures conversations. Stories present information in a format that makes it easier for the audience to receive, comprehend, and retain. At Ariel Group Australia , storytelling is a central leadership competence we develop in many of our courses and programs , not only because it connects messages to the head and the heart, but also because it is a powerful tool for building a relationship with the audience, whether an audience of one or many. The Ariel Formula for Business Storytelling 1. State The Business Context “We are meeting today to talk about the recent HR announcement …” 2. Segue To The Story “But before I do that, let me tell you a story.” 3. Tell The Story “As a student I…” 4. State What You Learned “What I learned from this experience…” 5. State What We Can Learn “What we can learn from this experience…” 6. Connect To The Business Challenge “So, as we face this challenging period…”
