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Success Tip

Tell Me A Story

Do you remember when you were a small child?  When you listened to a story, you learned to relax and listen intently.

Consider many of our greatest leaders and personalities were great storytellers. We are talking about people like Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln, Will Rogers, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, John Kennedy, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. And, Jesus Christ taught using stories that we call parables.

Telling stories can be an invaluable skill for sales people.

In the book How I Multiplied My Income & Happiness In Selling, Frank Bettger told how he learned to sell by becoming a "bird dog" for the greatest salesman he knew, Clayton M. Hunsicker. He was surprised to observe that Hunsicker said little in the way of a "sales talk." He spent most of the initial interview asking questions and telling stories.

One day, Hunsicker was unable to be at a sales call Bettger had arranged, so Bettger made the presentation himself. He made a four-hour presentation, and successfully closed the sale. "Now, how did I have the courage to go up there that morning without Mr. Hunsicker and sell those four men, nearly twice my age? Stories! It was the stories that gave me courage and confidence. Without them I wouldn't even have considered attempting to sell them alone. But I knew I could tell them the stories; and I knew those stories fitted their situation. And it was the stories that sold those men more than a half-million dollars of life insurance!" (This was when $500,000 was a whole lot of money!) From that time, Bettger had the confidence to make his presentations on his own.

You, too, can join the "great ones" and improve your popularity and sales effectiveness, and have more fun in the process! Simply start telling more stories. What are your personal experiences that relate to ideas you're trying to promote? How have others benefited from using your product or service? What consequences did others suffer that could have been avoided? People relate best to "real life" experiences of people like themselves. Enjoy becoming a great storyteller and you'll also become a better salesperson.