“I’m standing in the middle of six lanes of traffic. Cars, buses and taxis aggressively trying to enter and exit the Holland Tunnel. TriBeCa no longer stood for the ‘Triangle Below Canal’. No. It was the ‘Triangle of Belligerent Cars’, with all of its points leading to my death.”
Did I grab your attention?
Do you want to find out what happens next in the story?
Unfortunately, I cannot tell you.
Here are the two reasons why:
1. This is the opening section of the written version of a story I told on stage many years ago. The written version was published in the Painted Bride Quarterly and their digital archive is currently under construction. I could only access these beginning sentences.
2. The blog post that comes after this gripping opener is ultimately about using the attention grabbing power of storytelling when crafting a sales pitch. This requires you to come up with (and share) personal narratives of your own.
I recently came across this Harvard Business Review article entitled "How to How to Improve Your Sales Skills, Even If You’re Not a Salesperson" and so much of what was shared aligned with my own views and values when it comes to selling something.
Here is one of my favorite passages:
Rather, selling “is persuading, inspiring, and leading.” Your goal is “to work in collaboration” with a client or colleague “to drive change.” To get into the right mindset, Steenburgh recommends reflecting on your past positive experiences as a customer. “When you think about the best sales interactions you’ve had in your life, it’s almost like the salesperson wasn’t there,” he says. The seller was just “a person who’d taken a genuine interest in your problem and was helping you solve it.”
Here's another passage from the HBR article that really stuck with me:
“Selling is moving somebody else to action,” he says. And that is part and parcel of professional life. “If you look at things you do over the course of your day, from internal meetings with colleagues to clients calls, almost all of your interactions involve some form of selling."
I did the article’s recommended reflecting-back-on-my-own-past-positive-experiences-as-a-customer. I had a fantastic experience at the Apple Store on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. I was swapping out my old phone or a new one and had a complicated situation with a family plan. I was feeling anxious about spending money on a new phone and all of the unknowns of not being the main account holder. To help me choose the right phone model, my salesperson, Shanae, started by sharing her own experience upgrading from an old phone like mine to one of the newer models. She continued with a story about the bizarre physical feeling of waiting for your “swipe” muscle memory to develop and your “home button pushing” muscle memory to fade. (Side note: I had no clue what she was talking about until I went home and could not figure out how to work my new phone. It was weeks before the new muscle memory was formed.)
After money exchanged hands, Shanae waited by my side as all of my data transferred from one device to the other. While the data was data-ing we figured out that we had mutual friends and exchanged stories relating to them. She told me about her background in film and studying it in school. She shared her plans to eventually leave Apple after many many years and become a real estate developer. This was months ago and I still remember the teeny tiny special details that she shared with me. I even felt comfortable enough to tell her stories about making my podcast and my upcoming trip to Chicago.
The next day I was back in the Apple store. I needed a dongle for my headphones. (Don't even get me started on the iPhone dongle!) Shanae was standing in the accessories section and it felt like running into an old friend. She helped me with my purchase again as I was leaving she said "Have fun in Chicago." Now if ever I am in that Apple Store, I will ask for Shanae — though I am hoping she is gone and pursuing her larger career goals.
Whether or not your job title has the word "sales" in it, as a leader you are pitching and selling at all times. And so much of that pitch is dependent on who you are and how you deliver it.
A sales pitch needs to come out of that genuine interest in helping a customer or client solve their problem. It also needs to nurture the relationship between buyer and seller — whether that’s actual money exchanging hands, or a call-to-action that needs to take place.
Relationships form via points of connection and building a foundation of trust. And in a sales pitch - the points of connection and the moments-of-deepened-trust occur when a story is exchanged.
As someone who feels queasy every single time I am on the selling end of a sales pitch sales, I find this reframe of a sales interaction refreshing and calming. Once I give myself a moment to gut check and affirm that I genuinely want to help people (and know that my company has top notch services to do so) I can show up to pitch in an authentic way. I can do that through staying present in the moment and building relationships through storytelling.
Meta, I know.
What if you could build that genuine connection with your audience at the start of the pitch?
What if they entrusted you within seconds and looked to your leadership abilities because of the way you brought them into the world of your ultimate ask?
It's possible to engage and inspire in such a way that a sale (or specific call to action) will happen whether you directly ask for it or not. When I listen to entrepreneurs, experts, and thought leaders speak on podcasts and during conferences, my attention is given when they offer a piece of who they are before they speak on a particular topic or give the elevator pitch of their business. They tell stories.
Your sales pitch can include a multitude of stories. And those stories can happen throughout. But for the most attention grabbing pitches the story comes at the beginning.
START A SALES PITCH WITH A STORY
There are several types of stories that will help you gain the attention of your audience*. I've listed them below by level of craftsmanship and ease of brainstorming.
Level 1 - Easy to brainstorm + craft
Level 2 - Takes more time to brainstorm + craft
Level 3 - The most difficult when it comes to brainstorming and crafting
Back Pocket Stories [Level 1] - You can forge an instant connection with your audience with a simple personal anecdote. Whether you are a real estate broker bringing your clients from showing to showing, or you're at a networking event meeting a whole new group of people, you can build a relationship with a Back Pocket Story. What’s a Back Pocket Story? It’s exactly how it sounds - a story that you keep in your back pocket and you can pull it out at any time. It can be a story about travel, your hometown, your family, or a fun night out. At first, the idea of a Back Pocket Story might feel a bit surface level, but you can go deeper by bringing your experiences to life with specifics and imagery and your genuine perspective on what happened and how it made you feel. Once you've told a Back Pocket Story, you can invite your audience to do the same and create a dialogue of shared experiences.
Accomplishment Story [Level 2] - Bring your audience into your world immediately by sharing an experience where you celebrated a big win. And don't be afraid to share the obstacles and moments of conflict (internal and external) that you needed to overcome to get to that accomplishment finish line. A great prompt to build upon for an accomplishment story is: something that you did that you never thought you could do.
Origin Story [Level 3]- If your goal is to have your audience understand who you are and how you got to your particular leadership role, begin with an Origin Story. This should answer the question "How did you get to where you are now?" It should also illuminate who you are beyond the work that you do. Use the prompt "How did you get your superpowers?" to craft an Origin Story that illuminates who you are, your personal mission, vision and values.
* I use the term audience to mean one or more persons. Pitching can happen 1-on-1 and it can reach a vast audience digitally. Regardless of who they are, attention spans are short. Starting with a story will draw them in, keep them there, and allow them to leave the experience with a lasting impression.
Ready to infuse storytelling into your communication strategy? Learn how Tell Me A Story works clients here.