My brother-in-law Pat recently took up storytelling as a hobby. His passion for it made me appreciate the art of story telling. Pat's involvement reminded me of the power of telling stories in the context of my sales career. I remembered floundering in some situations where I just could not connect to a client. I was struggling to impart reasons why I felt I could help them, and was getting nowhere. Then I remember reaching for a story, a REAL story with truth and substance. I wanted some way to make a difference. Only now do I better appreciate how a "light bulb" moment can be created with the right story.

Have you thought about how story telling can help you in your sales career? Some people wiser than I have already discovered how effective you can be when using data appropriately within a story.

Jennifer Aacker, Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, said it best:  "A story is nearly 22 times more memorable than facts alone. When you share a story, studies show that people are more likely to remember the message, be persuaded by it and feel personally connected to it. And when data and stories are used together, audiences are moved both intellectually and emotionally."

The story we are talking about is hardly a bed-time story. Rather, it is an authentic story using data within an emotional message to communicate effectively. It is a sales story.

Sales stories are not told for entertainment, although they can be entertaining!  Instead, they have two specific goals. The number one goal is to gain trust, first and foremost. The second goal is to guide and persuade. For that reason, I believe that "stories" should always be fact-based--never fiction.

How do you tell an effective story? You "Appeal to the Heart -- Not the Head," according to a study published by Wharton University of Pennsylvania's Marketing Professor Deborah Small. 

Tasked with raising money for the Save The Children Charity, one group was given a brochure focused on data and the other group was given data along with a story about a girl named Rokia. See which story appeals to you:

Group One: "Food shortages in Malawi are affecting more than three million children. In Zambia, severe rainfall deficits have resulted in a 42% drop in maize production from 2000. As a result, an estimated three million Zambians face hunger. Four million Angolans - one-third of the population - have been forced to flee their homes. More than 11 million people in Ethiopia need immediate food assistance."

OR

Group Two: "Any money that you donate will go to Rokia, a seven-year-old girl who lives in Mali in Africa. Rokia is desperately poor and faces a threat of severe hunger, even starvation. Her life will be changed for the better as a result of your financial gift. With your support, and the support of other caring sponsors, Save the Children will work with Rokia's family and other members of the community to help feed and educate her, and provide her with basic medical care."

According to Small, creating a great story is "...all about putting together a simple, emotionally compelling message. The best way to do that is in the form of a picture or a story, something that purely engages the emotional system."

Sales storytelling is often most effective in the context of a reference, testimonial or case study.   And they are most effective when they:   

• Emphasize a success OR a failure: The story could describe an attractive business objective that your client needs to achieve. Or, the story could describe a negative vision, an unattractive future condition that your client needs your help to avoid. Allow the client to step into the future. Let them see the good and bad. Help them create a pathway to greatness!

• Differentiate: You can use this opportunity to reinforce a unique competitive advantage of your value proposition. Each of the unique competitive advantages of your solution/product should have a great story that can be used as a "proof" source.

• Resonate: Make sure the story is relevant to your client in that it is tied directly to her specific pains, goals, objectives, and challenges.  It is impossible to tell a great story unless you are truly tuned into what is important to your client absent all of the data at hand.   

Can you get help with your story?  In a perfect world you can get assistance from your marketing team. Hopefully they will take the lead and recognize that stories are integral to your company's sales and marketing effort. Maybe they have even thought to incorporate a customer telling her own story. Short 30 to 60-second testimonials are great for this purpose.