Guest Post by Mark Trinkle, President & CSO
Now that my daughter has reached her teens, our daughter-dad relationship has changed quite dramatically. Yes, I knew it was coming. Yes, I wish I could go back and get back some of that time again when she thought I was more of a superhero than today when at times she thinks I can be a super dork. And yes, I was not prepared for the drama that surrounds teenage girls.
But I digress. One of my fondest memories of her toddler years was her request at bedtime that I tell her a story. Some of them I read to
The same thing happens with salespeople…and with prospects…when sales stories are told. One of the most powerful advantages to storytelling is that stories provide what Peter Guber described as emotional transportation. Stories captivate attention. Stories, when properly told, are capable of moving prospects from their current state to a preferred state down the road. Perhaps you have heard it said that if you are telling, then you ain’t selling. But, of course, we know at Anthony Cole Training Group that telling is the default mode for most salespeople.
I still remember the immortal words of Walt Gerano, one of our sales coaches in our organization. Walt once said, “Weak salespeople prefer to tell what strong salespeople prefer to ask.” He was speaking of the supreme importance of asking questions. Not just any question, but fierce questions – questions that are courageous and direct…questions that help the salesperson paint a story instead of data dumping a bunch of facts.
So, think about that next time you go on a sales call. What kind of sales story could you tell?
Remember, if you huff and you puff, you can blow the house down.
Thanks for listening…now go sell like a champion today. And let us know if we can help your team with an upcoming workshop. We will go deep on the subject of how important sales stories are in selling.
