Storytelling in sales is a game changer if you struggle to connect with prospects.

Maybe you need a new strategy to increase sales and connect with buyers? Or want prospects to identify with your product quickly?

You can increase sales, control the buyer’s attention and close the prospect with a good story incorporated into your sales pitch.

The main challenge storytelling in sales presents is the quality of the story itself.

So let’s look at six tips to create compelling sales presentations with storytelling, right after a short clarification on why storytelling for sales works as an effective sales strategy.

Why Use Storytelling in Sales?

Logic makes people think deeply, whereas emotion gets them to take action. As a result, powerful stories in sales, when done correctly, can be a strong conversion tool.

A well-crafted story will engage even the most intelligent buyer. Storytelling in sales helps the buyer identify your product as a solution to their problem much more than facts or figures.

Scientifically, stories activate several regions in the brain and can evoke various emotions that humanize your pitch.

Expertly told, sales stories can also add personality to your pitch, making your sales presentation memorable, relatable, and authentic.

Incorporating sales stories into your pitch will help your prospects visualize, learn and remember how your product can help them. At the same time, It keeps your sales presentation brief and captures attention throughout the pitch.

4 P’s (+ 2): Key Tips for Storytelling in Sales

How can you craft a story that resonates deeply with your prospects and their problems? Can you develop a plot where your product is the answer to the conflict developed?

The answer to both of these questions is “Yes”!

Here are six essential tips you should use in creating a powerful sales storytelling template.

1. Prospect: Your Main Character

If you want your prospect to connect with your story emotionally, you have to make it easy for them to fill the shoes of your main character.

Or better still, make them the main character in your story.

Create a persona in a similar position to your prospect regarding their experience or status in their organization.

You can do the same with their professional careers or their challenges.

Alternatively, you can build your character from a previous customer with similar attributes and characteristics as your current prospect.

Once your prospect can relate to the main character of your story, you have their attention.

2. Problem: Your Prospect’s Challenges

Attention spans are getting shorter by the minute; as a result, you’re at risk of losing your prospect’s attention if your story does not quickly speak to the specific challenges they face.

You need to use killer sales questions to identify key objectives, including the buyer’s pain point, motivations, and previous experience with the problem.

For example, asking the prospect what they have previously done to address an issue is a great way to understand some of their needs.

Afterward, tailor your sales narrative to speak directly to it, assuring your prospects that they are in the right place.

3. Plot: Your Product is the Hero

It’s not difficult to mirror your main character to fit the prospect’s image and identify their problems within your story.

But your sales story will fall flat if not built around an engaging plot that presents your story as the solution.

B2B sales storytelling also needs a coherent plot to work as a story.

This means that you must clearly portray how the main character faces adversity and overcome them with your product.

You also need to consider their main takeaway from the story for the plot to work. In other words, be mindful of the overall story outcome.

The plot’s execution can either keep your prospects at the edge of their seat or increase their boredom.

4. Personalize: Use Your Prospect’s Language

Prospects will find your story relatable and real when you can draw parallels similar to their industry or organization.

This means you need to speak the buyer’s language.

You need to weave your story expertly through your pitch with a context your prospect is familiar with.

Using familiar language and challenges that they can encounter or perhaps would have encountered before can instantly personalize the story for them.

The context of your sales stories should vary according to the perspective and experience of the prospect. Doing so will help you stick the landing of your story.

5. Practice: Assure a Smooth Delivery

It’s a sales tool that needs cultivation over time, requiring precise execution and conscious delivery.

To succeed with storytelling in sales, you need to test and practice your story before your pitch.

Not surprisingly, practicing your story will make you better at storytelling. You will sound natural, raise your confidence and increase your control over the plot.

Depending on your prospects’ engagement, you may need to chip in parts of the story at critical points during your pitch. Your storytelling skill will determine how smooth the delivery is.

6. Pitch: It’s Showtime!

In the context of a sales presentation, the prospect is on the lookout for their interest. So let’s assume you have done everything right.

You’ve crafted a powerful story with a relatable main character, a familiar problem, and an exciting plot.

You have personalized the story’s context for your prospects and put in enough practice to hone your storytelling skill.

Now it’s time to pitch your compelling story to your prospect.

Your pitch, though targeted, appeals to your prospects because you have identified their challenges… or at least it should by this point!

Example of Storytelling in Sales

“Peter, the co-founder of a raw materials manufacturing group, struggled to meet growth expectations after a recent merger. In the past year, his approach to increasing sales was to build a close relationship between his sales and marketing team.

But he still fell short of their annual projections, slowly losing a significant percentage of the market share. Fortunately for Peter, within weeks of adjusting to the data provided from our market research, the numbers were looking up.

The problem was a misalignment with the sales and marketing team and a disconnect in public perception that our service fully illuminated. Peter finally knew what needed to change. He hit over 3X his sales projections within the first six months.”

Notice how the sales professional expertly weaves the four P’s into the story, depicting a relatable and engaging story for the prospect.

Customize Sales with Storytelling

Sooner or later, as a sales professional, you will need to learn how to become an expert at crafting engaging stories into your pitch.

Better storytelling in sales can help you connect with your prospects and increase the number of deals you close.

It’s a perfect sales strategy if you have struggled to close and engage prospects.

Start perfecting your storytelling skills with the six tips described here.

Get enough practice with different contexts until you are comfortable with your skill level and come across as natural.

Soon you will be able to constantly hold prospects at the edge of their seats and gracefully close them.

© Shawn Casemore 2022. All Rights Reserved.