Chapter 1

THE BEST STORY GETS THE SALE

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories that you tell.”

Seth Godin

Martijn Atell is an entrepreneur and a former client. When we worked together, Martijn had launched his new company and was looking for investors but didn’t have his pitch down yet. The first element I knew we needed to work on was getting Martijn’s confidence up when pitching and presenting to investors. I first asked him to tell me a story of a time when he knew he had really nailed something. Martijn told me that while he was born in South America, he was raised in the Netherlands. When he turned eighteen, his parents took him back to South America and dropped him off, naked, in the Amazon jungle for two weeks to survive. Shocked, I asked why on earth his parents would do this and learned this is a rite of passage for their culture.

Martijn’s story gave me goose bumps and I knew we could use it to open his pitches to get his start-up funded.

When I asked him what lesson(s) he learned in the Amazon jungle, Martijn replied, “Well, I learned how to focus, pivot, and preserve!”

“Great,” I said, “now you can take those lessons from the Amazon jungle into the concrete jungle of being an entrepreneur.”

Next, we worked on Martijn’s story delivery so that when he told it, his listeners went on the journey with him. He took them from his privileged life in the Netherlands to surviving fourteen days in a jungle in which many don’t survive, even given all the supplies in the world. This was a real lesson in life; Martijn came out of the Amazon stronger, wiser, and far more resourceful than he ever was before he entered it. He needed to tell this story to let potential investors know exactly who they were backing. We carefully crafted his story of origin and what this experience meant for his start-up. This answered the “why you?” question everyone has when they hear a pitch. Martijn then showed he had the key to the execution of a successful business plan that his investors would see as compelling.

A story like this is much more compelling than just saying, “I am someone who is persistent and resilient.” Just like in the movies, show, don’t tell, applies to your storytelling in pitches. When you paint a picture and people see themselves in the story, you have emotional engagement that makes them want to go on the journey with you.

Will Bunker, founder of Match.com, told me, “When people pitch me to invest in something, I have two questions: What world are you creating? Do I want to be part of that world?” These are great questions to consider when crafting pitches to ensure you are answering them in the story you tell.

When he was ready, Martijn told potential investors and groups this story of his experience. In the end, he won a pitch contest that fully funded his start-up. The investors said if he could survive naked in the Amazon jungle, Martijn could handle any problems that come up in business.

Now, that’s a powerful story.

I’m paraphrasing, but Plato said storytellers rule the world. I say whoever tells the best story gets the “yes,” so the better storyteller you are, the more “yeses” you will get, as Martijn experienced. So what makes a great story?

All good stories have four parts to them:

  1. 1)The exposition. The who, what, where and when. You have to paint a picture so people envision the scene. Sometimes, when I had Martijn practice his pitch, he forgot to say it was a rite of passage in his culture. I had to remind him more than a few times that if he doesn’t tell people that key fact, it sounds like child abuse! Therefore, not too much, but also not too little exposition.
  2. 2)The problem. He is naked in the Amazon jungle and has to figure out how to survive for fourteen days.
  3. 3)The solution. How he survives and learns invaluable life lessons.
  4. 4)The resolution. He survived. That is the ultimate resolution, but also how he applied the lessons he learned to his business. Now, as he moves into new pitches, his resolution includes that he started a successful company and won a pitch contest to secure initial funding for it. The resolution is a huge part of storytelling. What happens after the solution? What is life like after conquering the problem?

Below are some ways you can take the same lessons I taught Martijn into your next pitch.

“If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, you tend to go around looking for a lot of nails to hit.”

Abraham Maslow, Psychologist

That’s the old school way of selling: Asking for the order over and over the same way is like pulling out a hammer for every situation. The whole goal of this book is to give you more tools besides a hammer to get a “yes.”

Storytelling is the most important tool I talk about because professional salespeople have to transition from a push to a pull approach in order to stay relevant. What does this mean?

The old way of selling is to push your message out. That’s what commercials do. They interrupt programming. Even an ad in a magazine is pushing. But when you tell a story, you pull people in. People go from listening to data in their left brain to, “Oh, you’re going to tell me a story? Oh, maybe it’ll be interesting, maybe even entertaining,” which is an engagement of the right brain. And they do relax and that’s the moment when you tell a case study and take people on a journey.

When you have no right brain or emotional connection, it’s very easy to drop people’s attention because you’ll bore them. But when you tell stories, you’re not only going to get them more focused, you’re going to inspire them to want to work with you.

Mark Twain said, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination’s out of focus.” What are we focusing on? If you’re not clear on who you help and the problems you solve for them, or why what you and your company have to offer is better than the competition, then your clients won’t be either. But when you go from confusion and out of focus to clarity, you’re going to get a “yes.” Because guess what? The confused mind always says no. And your clients probably aren’t even going to tell you they’re confused by something you said or some acronym you threw out. They’re just going to say, “Let me think about it.” How many times have you heard that?

People love to work with people they trust, like, and know. Most people have that order reversed. When people meet you for the first time, they always have unspoken questions. First and foremost, do I trust you? That primal, gut instinct is fight or flight. The handshake came about back in the day to show you didn’t have a weapon in your hand and were not a physical threat.

The second question is do I like you? This is at the core of all of our relationships. We want to spend time with people whose company we enjoy and with whom we get along. There are many reasons we like one another, but a key one is the more you show empathy, the more people like you.

Finally, there is the unspoken question that everyone has when you’re talking about what your product, capability or service can do for them, will this work for me? All this stuff you’re telling me about sounds good, but how do I know this will work for me?

The customer must visualize themselves using the product or having the same experience you say they will have or they are going to say no. If you tell them a story about a client very similar to them, and they can see themselves in your story, going on that same journey as that other person did, after they trust and like you, they know you can do the same thing for them.

The concept of becoming a storyteller and figuring out what the story is allows you to sell yourself first. “Here’s why I’m so passionate about working here. Here’s why I’m so passionate about my company in particular.” Next, you sell your company. Finally, you sell the product or service through “what this means for you” benefit statements.

In my work with an architecture firm, I had the team tell stories about what inspired them to become an architect. One said, “When I was eleven years old, I played with Legos. Now I have a son who’s eleven. So I still play with Legos, but I bring that same passion that I had as a kid to this job.”

That is an example of a story of origin. You are telling something about you that makes you personable and memorable. It really helps people get to know and like you and is what allows storytelling to come to life.

In their Be More Human Super Bowl campaign, Reebok didn’t talk about shoes at all. Their message was about being more human: Be a better father, be a better brother, be a better wife, be a better sister. It was about being part of a better community. This emotional connection, where people feel like they want to be a better version of themselves, is then associated with Reebok. People want to be better humans, so to feel close to the message and the mission, they will buy and wear a brand that supports that goal.

Nike’s Find Your Greatness Olympics ad told the story of an eleven-year-old Ohio boy who’s slightly overweight. He starts to exercise, finding his own personal greatness. As with Reebok, no one mentions shoes. This campaign tapped into the natural emotion one feels when they see a child, likely bullied and teased for being overweight, trying to find his greatness by becoming healthier. People feel that and relate to the underdog, they get inspired to find their own greatness and put on a pair of Nike’s to start their own journey.

The point isn’t really whether you like Nike or Reebok, but it gives you a framework of wow, what story am I telling? What’s my company’s story compared to the competition’s story?

These campaigns provided great content and potentially created what Daniel Lemin, co-author with Jay Baer of Talk Triggers: The Complete Guide to Creating Customers With Word Of Mouth, calls a “talk trigger”—giving or doing something extra that creates word of mouth buzz. A good story creates a talk trigger and both of the above examples gave people something to discuss. Today, a talk trigger gets people to post on social media because they feel close to the story or want others to experience it, too.

A talk trigger can also be something that a brand does. Clothing retailer Banana Republic did this when they added phone charging stations in their flagship store in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. The brand wanted to increase their perception as a luxury clothing retailer without increasing their prices. When people came in to shop, they got the unexpected treat of being able to charge their phones. This simple addition to the store made customers feel taken care of and catered to and thus elevated the brand above others.

It turns out Banana Republic’s decision not only elevated the brand perception but increased their sales too, because people shopped more while waiting for their phones to fully charge. What can you do to elevate your brand to a luxury or personalized experience that doesn’t require an increase in pricing and instead gets people talking?

Daniel Lemin’s book is filled with stories about this great approach and he told me many of them when he was a guest on my podcast. Here are two:

You may have placed a food order and received a number to display on your table. A server can then easily identify who ordered what by matching the number on the table with a meal ticket. Skip’s Kitchen uses playing cards instead of numbers for this same system. Skip then added a card game to help patrons pass the time waiting in a sometimes long line to order. Skip has those in line pick a card from a deck and if they pull out the joker, Skip buys them lunch!

Skip implemented this game from necessity, but it now creates an electric environment. The whole line is invested and entertained, watching to see what card the people ahead of them pick. Additionally, it became a talk trigger…patrons post about the experience on their social media. Skip gives away 2% of his orders, but when people win (or don’t!) they take selfies, write reviews, and post about it; thus, the talk trigger pays off repeatedly.

“…When I paid, she laid a deck of cards out and told me that if I picked the joker the lunch was on Skip’s. Of course, I didn’t get it…It’s a super unique way to assign orders and perked my excitement for a moment when I got to pick a card!”

Yelp review of Skip’s

The second story is from Holiday World Theme Park & Splashin’ Safari Water Park. They decided that “when everybody else zigs, we zag.” The Park gives Pepsi away for free! If you recently went to a theme park, or even the movies, you likely paid $5 or $10 for a soda you could buy in a store for a fraction of that. With those prices, it is easy to see the huge profit margins soda sales represent. But Holiday Theme Park & Splashin’ Safari Water Park saw a bigger opportunity. Parents, accustomed to overpaying for sodas for their family, love the “perk” and thus talk about it. The free Pepsi has generated more than 1,000 TripAdvisor reviews.

This kind of word of mouth, peer-to-peer review, provides a layer of advertising far more valuable than the lost profit selling soda. So much so that the Park created another talk trigger by giving away free sunscreen to patrons spending the day at the park in the heat and sun of the summer months.

“…The things that impressed me the most about the visit were the free soft drinks and sun screen…”

TripAdvisor Review

In both cases, people feel special and the experience is memorable. Nobody ever said, “Let me tell you about the perfectly adequate lunch I just had,” but they will talk about experiences that go above and beyond like these two examples.

When you tell a story about another client you helped, include a talk trigger of why they were so happy about how you went above and beyond.

I’m going to give you some secrets on storytelling. There are four key genres that I will provide examples of, first through a film example for the movie buffs and then a commercial brand that uses that genre. Once you see the examples, you can try some of them in your next sales presentation.

The first genre is rags to riches. That’s clearly the Cinderella movie. A brand that uses this is Johnny Walker Scotch. Johnny was a poor Scottish farmer who worked his way up from the fields to the number one Scotch whiskey brand in the world. Clearly, this rags to riches tale is the classic one.

Oprah Winfrey is another classic rags to riches story. Born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother, Oprah endured sexual abuse from the age of nine, including rape. She became pregnant at fourteen, but the baby died in infancy. Moving to Nashville to live with her father, she started her career in radio while in high school. She began co-anchoring the local news at age nineteen. She worked her way up through broadcasting, launched her own production company and today, some consider Oprah to be the most influential woman in the world.

The next genre is the quest, going on a journey. The Lord of the Rings tells of Frodo’s epic and treacherous journey to Mount Doom to destroy the ring to save the world. Lexus’s tagline, The Pursuit of Perfection, embodies this, you are pursuing the ultimate goal. It’s a quest. We may think we’re never going to get there, but we are encouraged to constantly work to get better and better in hopes of achieving perfection one day.

A personal example of a quest genre story is from my travels. One of my dreams was to go on a dog sled ride on a glacier in Alaska. So I had to figure out what I needed to do to fulfill that dream.

First, I needed to get to Alaska, so I booked a cruise. Next, I had to book the excursion, but there is limited space and they sell out quickly. I barely got into one. When I arrived, the weather was so bad, the excursion didn’t go out that day. I was there, in Alaska, ready to go and it was so beautiful, but I didn’t get to do it.

Five years later, I went back and the excursion was sold out, but I was put on the wait list. When the wait list came through, I was thrilled. Finally! The tour began with a helicopter ride to the top of a glacier. On the helicopter ride up, the pilot told us how lucky we were to go that day as the wind the day before was so bad, they couldn’t land on the glacier and they had to turn back.

It is incredible to realize all the things that must align for you to have this experience and, finally there, you see an American flag and feel like you’re on the moon. When I went, there were twenty people living there for months at a time without many of the comforts we take for granted, like internet access, and over one hundred dogs living on this glacier that take excursions like mine out. The moment I stepped on the sled was unreal. I saw the ten dogs paired up ahead of me and nothing but snow and glaciers as far as the eye could see. I was lost in a sense of wonder and awe. Then, when they started to run, it was sheer exhilaration!

I am forever grateful for that once-in-a-lifetime experience of fun and connection to nature. The euphoria of that ride instantly rewarded the effort, hard work, and patience I put in to be part of it and made the experience all the more momentous.

That story tells you a little bit about who I am. Very different than if I simply told you, “I’m someone who doesn’t give up.” Not nearly as interesting as, “Let me tell you a story of a time I wanted something so badly, I went on a quest that ultimately spanned 5 years…”

The next genre is the rebirth. That’s the classic Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life. What would happen if you weren’t here? Brands have to reinvent themselves all the time.

Prudential uses this, they say, “You know what? Your retirement is not just a continuation of your middle age. It’s your third act. It’s a rebirth. It’s a new story.”

The last one is staying home or deciding to go on a trip. In The Wizard of Oz, if Dorothy had listened to Auntie Em and gone into the cellar, she never would have traveled to Oz. Expedia uses this approach when they say, “You know what? Go have an adventure, book it on Expedia, and then come back home and tell all your friends how great the trip was.”

Airbnb takes this a step further. Author Sujan Patel talks about how Airbnb is 100% about the customer but, without the customer, there is no product. Airbnb’s customers—hosts and guests—are the brand. Airbnb is an online marketplace where homeowners offer their property, or part of it, for rent. Travelers can book the homes or rooms listed. Airbnb continues to expand their offerings to travelers, allowing hosts to offer recommended local experiences and places to eat.

Regardless of how Airbnb grows, their two customers are still the brand. Airbnb doesn’t own or manage properties itself. They simply provide a platform for customers to promote and book properties, meals, and more.

Airbnb knows this, and instead of telling the company’s story, it has customers tell their stories. This is so important to Airbnb that they have a whole section dedicated to “Stories from the Airbnb Community.” Stories. Front and center.

You can now use these genres in sales pitches. For example, when presenting a story or case study of someone else you’ve helped, you might frame it as, “Here’s where they were, here’s the problem I solved, the solution we offered them, and now their life is like XYZ. They’re saving money, energy, have peace of mind because of the security, their customer service is stellar, etc.” Whatever it is, all of those things are what make a good story.

Knowing the different genres, ways to tell a compelling story, and being able to use them effectively are going to separate you from the competition. When you are a storyteller, with the commitment to understanding your clients’ problems better than anybody else, you can customize what you’re offering to them. This avoids getting into the competition of, “Here’s the wish list, do you have all these features or not?” Storytelling sets up and fosters a very different conversation.