In order to grow a successful business, you need to learn how to increase sales and generate new customers. Storytelling is a selling technique that can be used to help you share your success with others, build trust in your product, generate new customers and increase sales. For this reason, storytelling is considered to be one of the hottest and most noteworthy trends that have been presented in sales and marketing. Stories are scientifically known for their persuasive force and are more memorable than other things we may use to prove success such as numbers, dates and names.
This is why stories are used to affect customers’ brains and behavior as well. Understanding how to create sales stories can also allow you to become a great salesperson and not just a good salesperson who knows how to talk to customers to successfully sell products or services. By creating highly engaging stories, you can control your customers’ brains and emotions to make them do what you want. But how can you create those stories that attract more customers and sell products?
♦ Step 1: Choose a type of story
There are different types from which you can choose what you like to start creating your own story. You can create or tell:
- Origin story of your company, product or service
- Customer experience story in different forms such as reviews, testimonials, and case studies
- Stories that show your brand’s values like those that appear in advertisements and campaigns
- Personal story of solving a problem “The same problem your customers face and want to solve”. In this case, you will be the hero. Start telling your story and how you solved the problem.
- Historical story that requires simple research to find all the interesting information that can make your product more exciting. It is perfect for activities and products that were used in the past.
♦ Step 2: Collect the foundational elements
In order to create a story, you first need to collect its foundational elements. So after choosing a type of story that suits what you want to talk about, you have to start collecting the essential elements of your story including the characters, theme, and conflict.
♦ Step 3: Focus on the key elements
For creating successful stories, which are a combination of facts and narrative, there should be a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end like other stories we read, but keep it short. You have to focus on the climax and resolution that help you engage customers’ brains.
♦ Step 4: Select dynamic characters to present
The stories you create should be effective and highly engaging to help you captivate your audience. In order to create those effective stories, you need to present strong and dynamic characters that can affect your customers and make your stories more interesting. Presenting characters that connect with customers emotionally can help you engage your customers’ brains and increase sales.
♦ Step 5: Choose a relatable hero
In addition to presenting dynamic characters, you also need to choose a hero. Who is the hero of your story? You are not the main character in the stories you create to prove your success or sell products. Your customers are the protagonists through allowing them to play the main role in the story. You can make your brand the hero or personify the problem your customers face to be the hero of your story, but this is not recommended at all. It will be better to focus more on the customers and make them the protagonists instead of giving them the supporting role to play. So you have to choose a character or hero that your potential customers can relate to. You, your company, and brand are going to play a supporting role in the story.
♦ Step 6: Open strong & Use metaphors
How are you going to start your story? The opening or beginning of your story sets the stage for the rest of the story and prepares the customers for what is going to happen. If you want to open strong and attract more attention to your story, you have to start in the middle of the action by quickly introducing the characters and the problem they face. Try to use metaphors in your story to make it more interesting and give your customers the chance to experience the story and live it as if they are the protagonists.
♦ Step 7: There should be conflict in your story
A story without conflict is nothing, so you have to clearly identify the conflict in your story to make the story successful. You can create a conflict between your brand and another brand or your customers and a problem they face. You can also look for what your customers need or the goals they want to achieve and start talking about this in your story. Try to build tension to make your story more exciting. Explain the physical, psychological, emotional, or financial effects of the problem on the hero and how the hero tries to solve the problem using several products and solutions.
♦ Step 8: Dire stakes are highly essential
Are there any stakes in your story? Stakes have the ability to make your story memorable. So if there are not stakes in your story, then you have to know that your story is not successful and will not encourage your target or potential customers to purchase your product because they will ignore your story and will not listen to it. What will happen or what are your customers “hero” going to lose, if they fail to achieve their goal or solve their problem? Something bad must happen and you have to decide what this bad thing is. It could be losing a loved one, a job, money or any other thing your hero cares about and is worth fighting. So, try to think of the worst and scariest thing that will happen if the hero fails to solve his problem or does not try to achieve his goal.
♦ Step 9: Do not forget the climax
Climax is the most important and exciting part of the story. It happens before the end. It is the interesting part of the story where the tension increases and the action reaches its highest point. So ignoring this essential part of story will make your story boring and will not allow you to achieve what you want. At this part, your product, service, or solution starts to appear to offer the needed help and solve the hero’s problem. Explain everything related to the process of purchasing and trying your product or service to add credibility to your story. If there are other solutions or products that were tried before and did not help in solving the problem, then it will be better to mention them as this will help you more in convincing your target customer to purchase your product.
♦ Step 10: Create a happy ending
It is time to finish your story. The problems that the heroes of your story face are solved thanks to adopting the solution you present. The heroes get what they need as a result of using your product or service.
♦ Step 11: Conclude your story
What is the message that you want to send to your customers through your story? The message that you want to convey is the conclusion of your story. It is usually associated with your brand slogan or the benefits of your product. Your story should show your customers the benefits that they can get from using your product and why your brand is the right choice. You can do this through adding impressive numbers and showing the positive changes and qualitative results of using your product or trying your service. Do not forget the main character in your story and the effects of adopting your solution or using your product on the hero such as getting promoted or praised.
♦ Step 12: CTA
A call to action or CTA is a marketing and advertising term that is used to refer to a request to the audience to do something. Encourage the audience or potential customers to quickly respond to your story and do what you want through asking them to visit a webpage or store now, call for more information, email today to get the needed help, start free trial, or find out how a product helps millions of users around the world. These calls to action will help your customers quickly respond and take the next step towards the purchase of your product.
♦ Step 13: Do not leave your customers here
To convince your target customers to purchase your product or try your service is not the end of the journey, it is just the beginning. For this reason, you should not leave your customers in the dark after telling your story. Once your customers decide to try your product or service, you have to provide them with the needed help to win their trust, make them completely satisfied and encourage more purchases.
♦ Step 14: Think of a catchy headline
Whether you want to decide it first before starting to create your story or leave it, as it is here, until you finish your story to be able to create a catchier headline, you have to think of a unique headline that can attract your customers’ attention. Choosing a catchy headline will help you get more attention and encourage your potential customers to take the time to read or listen to the story you tell. In the headline, try to reveal the benefits and stunning results that the hero of your story has got from using your product or trying your service.
You also need to focus in the headline on your customers’ goals. The customers can achieve their goals and change their world or life through using your product and this should appear in the headline. Try to answer these questions in the headline “What can your customers get from you? / What are the goals they will achieve after using your product? / How can your product change their life?/ Why is your product important to the customers?”
Other important things you need to consider when you start creating a story
♦ Create stories that demonstrate your strengths
In order to create a success story, you need to answer these questions.
- How/who were you when you started your work “the very beginning of your journey”?
- Which things did you want to change in your life, work, or personality?
- What are the problems you faced when you tried to achieve your goal and make changes?
- What did you do or use to achieve your goal “insights, tools, decisions, actions…etc.”?
- What are the positive changes you could make?
The success stories you create should show your ability to solve problems or help in achieving success thanks to your insights, decisions, actions, and other unique skills such as professionalism and creativity.
♦ Create a world that satisfies emotional needs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MV3HWQHl1s
People like those stories that educate them, help them get inspired, challenge them, or leave them emotionally charged. So, create a unique and interesting world in which your potential customers can immerse themselves to satisfy their emotional needs and find what they are looking for in the real world. The emotional needs and motivators include adventure, helping others, receiving respect and admiration, getting the needed help, seeking comfort, convictions, togetherness and communicating with others, authenticity, curiosity, and self-expression.
♦ Changing roles
You are not always the storyteller. You may become the audience. If you do not have the ability to create a great story that captivates your customers, then you can leave this for your customers to do. Your customers can create powerful stories that are more impressive and interesting than yours. Customers can tell their stories in the form of testimonials and reviews. You can share those testimonials and reviews to easily generate more customers and increase sales. In order to achieve this, you have to always make your customers happy and completely satisfied especially after trying your product. Here is an example of how customers can create great stories for you to be both the protagonists and storytellers.
♦ Select an accomplishment from your sales history
If you want to create a sales story, you have to take a look at your sales history. Your sales history is the only source that can inspire you and help you get all the necessary elements for creating your sales stories. It provides you with all the information you may need about the company’s revenue from the sales of a specific product during the past months or years. Try to select the greatest achievement from your sales history to start telling the story behind it. Reveal all the secrets that can make your story more interesting. Remember, the hero of the sales story is a customer who purchased your product or used your service and not you, your company or product.
To conclude, telling a story is the most powerful way to create an emotional connection with your audience or potential customers, convey your message, generate new customers and increase sales. It is the simplest, easiest and most effective tool to sell your products or services, make people remember your business, and encourage your customers to start talking about your brand and tell others about your product. For this reason, you have to develop your storytelling skills and learn how to create a great story that is highly engaging to easily achieve your goal. Telling a great and interesting story can help you create a long-term relationship between your customers and brand. You have to know that the story you tell must be true and it will be great to add videos and pictures to make your story more believable.
By stories you sell & not just tell
Amazing Brand Stories to Learn From
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5ScSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ttsx5squWg
