How to Choose the Right Story to Sell With

Good Morning! Earlier this week, Citigroup bank was fined $79 million for a mistake one of their traders made, selling $1.4 billion worth of stock, causing a market crash. We’ve all made mistakes at work, but this one has to take the prize. It also makes us feel much better about accidentally sending {first_name} in one of our cold emails last week. 😅 

In today’s Follow Up:

• Picking the right story to sell with 📖 

• Sales tip of the day 💡 

• Sales news around the internet 🗞️ 

• Sales jobs, job market & a meme 😂 

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Choosing The Right Story to Sell With

You don’t need to be told how important storytelling is for sales.

However, choosing the wrong story to tell is just as bad as not telling one.

Sales reps get stuck telling the same stories over and over because they’re familiar and ‘seem’ important. And when it doesn’t land with a customer, they chalk it up to the customer ‘not getting it’.

In a recent HBR article, two storytelling experts walked through why some sales reps are choosing the wrong story’s to tell, and how you can choose the right one.

Let’s break it down. 👇️ 

Find Their Why 🧠

The first step is figuring out what’s important to them.

Instead of launching into a pre-planned sales pitch, ask questions to understand what pain points they want to overcome.

What outcome do they want from buying a product or service like yours?

The article tells the story of a beverage sales rep who attempted to sell a supermarket on why they need more visible shelf space. The sales rep told a story of how their premium-priced beverage had a state-of-the-art production process that made the beverage cheaper when they sold more. So in order to make it cheaper, they needed the better shelf space to sell more.

But there was a problem with that story…

It focused on why the sales rep needed the shelf space (to make more sales), not why the grocery chain would want to give them the shelf space.

Make it Emotional ❤️ 

It’s estimated that over 95% of purchases are made with emotions.

Your goal with every story is to bring out emotions in your listeners (that make them want to buy). Data and specs alone won't seal the deal.

You need to tap into your buyer's feelings and create an emotional connection to the results your product brings.

The same beverage sales rep took a step back to try and understand why the story didn’t land with the supermarket. At the same time, the rep learned about parents who were buying the beverage, because it helped their kids with health issues.

The parents didn’t care about the product’s ‘state-of-the-art’ production process or even how much it cost. They believed it solved their kid’s health issues, which gave them an emotional attachment to the product.

Find Your Story 📖 

Armed with your buyers why and their emotional drivers, it’s time to craft a sales story tailored to what they care about.

Make your prospect the hero of the story.

Now, to finish off the beverage sales rep story…

With the story of why parents buy their beverage, the sale rep went back to the supermarket and told a different story. This time the sales rep told the supermarket the story of the parents who fixed their kid’s health problems with the drink.

The story focused on the real value of the product, and why the supermarket would want to be known for carrying the drink.

And this time, the supermarket gave them the shelf space.

20+ Sales Tools Every Rep Should Be Using in 2024

We asked sales leaders what tools they think every rep should be using, and compiled the tools into a list including:

• Emails tools

• Prospecting tools

• AI tools

• And much more!

Refer 1 friend to The Follow Up and get instant access to the list!

Sales Around The Web 🗞️ 

🥚 Sales reps at Tesla say they feel like they’re ‘walking on eggshells’ as rumors of layoffs continue.

💰️ SugarCRM acquired sales intelligence tool, sales-i, to provide more revenue insights in their CRM.

🧠 A study found that Venture capitalists spend 118 hours making a startup investment decision, after the initial sales pitch.

🏆️ A BDR at a top 50 SaaS company beat his entire team in a monthly spiff, and his reward was a spray painted thumbs up trophy.

Checking In On The Job Market

How many years of time management experience do you have? 😂 

Sales Meme of the Day

Rapyd story source: https://www.techinasia.com/11m-dispute-rapyd-salesperson