What has storytelling got to do with sales you say? Well, let me tell you a story of a young man who knew everything about what he was selling and couldn’t get anyone to engage. Have you heard this one before? I bet you have, you know the one, where the reps explains everything to the buyer, does all the demos, crafts the perfect proposal and still doesn’t get the deal. The moral of that story is that they failed to do the most important thing, create a connection.
There is a tendency in the tech world to focus on technical answers to solving customer problems. Whether that is getting the tech stack for sales and marketing right or the use of AI to automate intelligently, or talking in technical riddles to customers. I’ve seen too many GTM teams focus on themselves and explaining their product in terms only they understand. It doesn’t address the core issue, that we are still going to have to deal with a human to get a lead, make a sale or grow a customer.
There is nothing more human than a story, especially one about our own circumstances. Stories have been embedded into the human psyche since we could communicate, they connect with us intrinsically, they are compelling and grab our attention.
Jennifer Akar, a marketing professor at Stanford says “A story is a journey that moves the listener, and when the listener goes on that journey they feel different. The result is persuasion and sometimes action.”
This article is for customer facing professionals that want to engage customers and prospects to take action, it is based on my experiences and what I think really matters.
The science of stories?
Our brains are not hard wired to retain facts and logic for long periods. Our brains are hard wired to remember stories. Evolution has brought us here, when we hear stories our brains release chemicals that motivate us, make us feel empathy and encourage us to cooperate with other people.
Paul Zak in his HBR article says that “as social creatures we depend on others for our survival and happiness.” His research team discovered that a neurochemical called Oxytocin is a key “it’s safe to approach others” signal in the brain. Oxytocin is produced when we are trusted or shown a kindness, and it motivates cooperation with others. It does this by enhancing the sense of empathy, our ability to experience others’ emotions. “Empathy is important for social creatures because it allows us to understand how others are likely to react to a situation, including those with whom we work.”
Zak’s research team conducted a number of medical experiments to test why stories create voluntary motivation. The core is that a story must first gain attention by developing tension. This tension engages the reader so that they are likely to share emotions with the characters within it. His experiments show that compelling, character-driven stories with emotional depth significantly enhance audience understanding and long-term recall of key messages, far surpassing the impact of standard PowerPoint presentations.
Zak believes that business professionals should begin every presentation by telling a relatable, human story to immediately engage their audience. To make information persuasive and memorable, explain the project’s relevance: Why should anyone care? How will it positively impact the world or individual lives? What emotions will its completion evoke? It is always a transcendent purpose that wins over the human brain.
The (he)art of a captivating story
There are many ways to create a narrative, the world is full of endless books on it for budding writers, this is my personal favourite from Kurt Vonnegut about the shape of stories. A master of his craft, showing how there are only a few stories that are told, albeit with different characters.
My observation from this video is that all of these stories are essentially the same because the protagonists have to go through a process of transformation before their arcs move upwards and happiness is attained. The more human the story the more likely we are to associate with it. Sound familiar? If you buy this thing and transform that piece of your business then you can reap the benefits and ease your pain.
Simon Sinek in his brilliant book “Start with Why”, (video summary here) talks about a concept of the “Golden Circle”. He draws a simple diagram of 3 concentric circles (see below) the centre being Why, the middle layer being How, and the outer circle being What to explain this idea. He poses the question “Why is it that companies with the same capabilities succeed over each other.” He believes it is down to messaging. People buy why you do it, not what you do, the predominant way most people communicate is to describe what they do, and possibly the greatest companies describe why they do it.
Sinek bases his idea on the way that the brain is made up aligning his golden circle directly with the layers of the brain in a cross section from above. The newest part of our brain, the neo cortex responsible for rational, analytical thought and language corresponding with the what part of the circle. The middle two sections make up our limbic brain, these are responsible for our feelings, like trust and loyalty. It is also responsible for human behaviour, all decision-making but it has no access to language.
When we communicate from outside (the What) we can assimilate vast amounts of information in terms of features and benefits, but it just doesn’t drive behaviour. When we communicate from the inside (the Why) we are communicating directly to the part of the brain that controls behaviour. This is then rationalised with what we say or do (in the neo cortex). When you lead with your heart or your soul over the facts and figures, it is your limbic brain that is driving behaviour.
A perfect business example of story telling is how differently Apple marketed its MP3 (iPod) versus how Dell sold theirs. I didn’t even know Dell made one, which I guess proves his point, but they sold it on the basis of features and nobody bought one. I am sure it was perfectly functional and would have done the same job as the ipod. Whereas Apple sold theirs on the basis of an intrinsic value that sits in the heart of every human, challenging the status quo. And everybody bought one.
What is clear from Vonnegut, Zak and Sinek is that human connection about values addressing emotional needs has a significantly stronger effect on action, cooperation and connection than any logically compelling argument. In fact both Zak and Sinek use Why, How and What in the same context.
When we join a company we learn all about the features or benefits that the product or service has to offer. We then explain them to our customer hoping they will connect with that. As Sinek points out, that part of the brain will understand your logic but will not move the listener to action and any emotional connection. So how do we tell the story?
Are you sitting comfortably, then I shall begin
Let’s do a comparison about something we can all relate to, Spotify. This is how I perceive it and the effect it has on my life.
My (adult) children and I love music, we go to concerts, we share music and frankly I have spent a lifetime trying to educate them on the classics of rock, hip hop and dance music. Every year at the same time I get a text from my kids, they are excited, which makes me happy. It’s spotify wrapped day, December 1st. We share and text and facetime discussing new discoveries, guilty pleasures and the classics that just keep coming up. I revel in watching my kids develop their musical tastes, the spotify platform brings us closer together. These calls inevitably lead to new concert dates and meet ups, the kind of thing that parents live for. My Spotify family subscription is the best money I spend each year.
This is how Spotify Describes itself: “Since its launch in 2008, Spotify has revolutionised music listening. Our move into podcasting brought innovation and a new generation of listeners to the medium. In 2022, we took the next leap, entering the fast-growing audiobook market—continuing to shape the future of audio.
Today, more listeners than ever can discover, manage and enjoy over 100 million tracks, nearly 7 million podcast titles, and 350,000 audiobooks a la carte on Spotify. We are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with more than 678 million users, including 268 million subscribers in more than 180 markets”
It’s almost unreadable. They also talk more meaningless nonsense about unlocking human creativity and giving artists a platform to live off their art. No one is buying that! Yet another perfectly reasonable but totally uninspiring message. None of it matters because it is about them not me, there is nothing that connects me to the message and I will ultimately forget it within minutes. Spotify truly is the power of product over marketing!
Unless you have a product this good you are going to have to craft a story.
How to tell a good story
Option 1 – Story Telling framework
Believe it or not Aristotle came up with the format for a good story about 2400 years ago. I’ve removed the bit about music. The table below shows the comparison between the story telling approach and traditional approaches with the key elements.
Building a story will need all of these elements woven together.
| Element | Normal Approach | Storytelling approach |
| Set Up | Never done, typically straight into the detail | The starting point of the story showing the status quo |
| Antagonist (the one who is overcome in the story of success) | Rarely done, often seen in terms of competitors or inferior existing situation if used | The pain that the customer is suffering, why do they need to change? What pain does this cause today |
| Protagonist | Rarely identified, typically generic information | The Hero / Shero of the story, the person to whom it matters most |
| Emotion | Often substituted for facts and figures | This needs to brought out, how will the buyers emotional state change |
| Plot | Focusses on post purchase only, forward looking | Connect the past, present and future, in a simple line, connect the dots for the protagonist |
| Features / Benefits | Presented as a list without context, sometimes with comparison against competitors | Shown in terms of how they improve the main protagonists life |
| Pain Points | Treated in a functional way, again often as a list | Presented as emotional states, happiness, anger, worry, frustration, relief |
Traditional approach: The XZ250 lawnmower is a state of the art robotic device that can mow any lawn. It has intelligent sensors that go to the edges of your garden and active suspension that reads the contours of your lawn. Its rechargeable battery lasts for 4 hours which means it can cut any lawn up to 500 square metres in one charge. You never need to worry about mowing your lawn again.
Story telling approach: It’s Sunday and you have a lot of jobs to carry out, but the Formula 1 Grand Prix is on and you promised your kids that you would take them to the park. With the XZ250 you can tick one of your jobs off the list, just take it off the charger and let it loose on your lawn. Its built in technology will read the contours of your lawn, all the way to the edges, probably better than you can do it, so that you can do what really matters to you, play with your kids bringing you and them some joy, and fall asleep in front of the grand prix for that well earned Sunday rest.
Option 2 – Keep it simple
When I was a young rep, one of the amazing sales leaders I worked for suggested that I start including a new section in my proposals and presentations, called What Would Success Look Like (WWSLL is how I refer to it now). In its simplest form it starts to paint a picture for the prospect on the outcomes of the offering. There are a few key factors that really make it sing. If it’s in a presentation I use only a picture (brains love pictures)
- Know your audience – The future looks different for different personas. Make sure you have done the discovery work to understand who you are selling to and what outcomes they are looking to receive. Make the buyer the protagonist in your story, this provides distinct context for them
- Make it emotional – Buying is emotional, try and tap into the buyer’s emotional outcomes. E.g. If your buyer is saying that their costs are spiralling and their people are too busy, they are feeling anxiety and worry. Show them you understand them.
- Connect the dots – draw a simple line between the future outcomes and emotions and one or two key benefits of your solution. Make it easy to see the connection, a simple way to think about it is to use the following format: because we do this, it leads to that and then the thing you want happens. Because we offer a mobile version of software, you can implement it on mobile phones and then you don’t have to worry about all the costs you have to pay today.
- Be authentic – it’s no good saying your offering will reduce climate change when it doesn’t, keep on brand and keep it within the realms of reality. Customers just want to improve their business and feel good about their decision.
Story telling is about connection
We don’t need to write like Vonnegut, but we could all be a bit more like Apple or Nike. By tailoring your communication to the buyer and their deeper pains so that you can create a narrative linking their lives with your offering, you can trigger oxytocin in the brain and create trust. That trust is authentic because you have shown them you can understand their deeper needs and are willing to cooperate with them and help them on their journey. After all, aren’t you trying to gain their trust so that they buy?
There are no facts that can override emotions, we see this in society all the time. Whilst storytelling is not a panacea, it is another tool for you to gain the edge over your competitors.
Are you sitting comfortably, then you should begin….
The NOT so secret CRO 
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