How Sales Reps Can Leverage the Power of Storytelling to Persuade Buyers and Win More Deals (Tips + Examples)

How Sales Reps Can Leverage the Power of Storytelling to Persuade Buyers and Win More Deals (Tips + Examples)



An effective sales pitch should gain your customer's attention and build trust to create long-lasting relationships. Stories help you exactly do that. Stories are a powerful tool in helping you connect with your buyers and influence their emotions in remembering you as a brand. Facts tell but stories sell, still relevant to this day and time, as stories are 22% more effective than stats. And as a salesperson, time is money for you. You always look for ways to close a deal. If you could weave stories in your sales pitch, it is  a guaranteed win for you.

Need proof? A salesman tried selling various antiques on eBay. However, none of them turned up to buy it. So, he added beautiful stories to it. And again, he put them on eBay for sale. Did the stories make any difference? He bought a cat head antique for 0.99 cents but sold it for over $69.82. He totally spent around $121 to buy the objects and sold them for over $8000 along with the stories. He earned a whopping gross profit of 6511% just by weaving beautiful stories to it. Leveraging the power of storytelling in your sales pitch can easily persuade your audience to sell more products.
 
So let us see how to draft a powerful sales pitch with 3 simple strategies to convince and persuade your buyers.

Commence with questions




The first step in weaving stories into your sales pitch is to ask the right questions to your potential prospects and build a relatable narrative from it. Let us see an example.
 
Without asking questions: Hello, I'm calling from XYZ CRM solutions. Am I speaking to Serina? Thanks for your interest in evaluating our solution. As you are from the real estate domain, we have a lot of real estate agents using our CRM. Any industry can customize and implement our CRM solution in seconds
 
Asking the right questions: Hello, I'm calling from XYZ CRM solutions. Am I speaking to Serina? Thanks for your interest in evaluating our solution, Serina. Before we proceed, I'd like to know how long you've been in this industry and if you have been using any other solutions so far.  This information will help me suggest the right solution for your business.

Why these two questions? 

The answer to the first question tells you whether the prospect is an expert or a novice. Based on the answer, you can vary the pitch with respect to their experience.  

The answer to the second question tells you about their expertise on using the product. If they are starting off, you can assist them with the benefits. If they have used various tools in the past, explain what your solution has to offer in addition to what the potential buyer already knows.

Tips:
  • Questions help you engage and strike an insightful conversation with the prospects. It paves the way to understand more about your customer and to position your story accordingly.
  • Don't exhaust the users with too many questions. Try not to exceed more than 4 questions.

Challenges




After gathering the information about the user, the next step is to summarize the problems and challenges that your prospect is struggling with. 
 
Without using the challenge: XYZ CRM is the best solution for all your problems. Whether it is to automate your business operations or to manage your day-to-day critical tasks - XYZ CRM, with its robust and powerful technology, optimises your business seamlessly
 
Enunciating the challenges: As a budding solopreuneur in the real estate industry, I believe that you have to perform various taxing tasks- from listing thousands of properties to invoice generation. It's, not an easy feat. Due to this, you might have to shuffle between multiple tools and spreadsheets to update the information periodically, leaving you very less time to sell.

Tips:
  • When addressing their challenges, always be specific and engage them with their real-life day-to-day problems.
  • Never fan your buyer's negative emotions by over emphasizing the problem and its consequences. A classic example would be a particular clip from the Tommy boy movie where Tommy tries to convince the dealer to use his car brakes but, he gave way too much priority to the problem that ended up in him losing the deal.  His approach intimidated the dealer and fed his negative emotions. 

Conclusion




After the challenge is explained briefly, conclude your pitch with your product, and how it will solve their business problems.. Leave them with a positive thought on how it would make their lives better. 
 
Without conclusion: So, can we schedule a free demo to walk you through the product?
 
Proper conclusion: It must be challenging and very time-consuming for you to stay on top of all the operations. We have a solution to automate the whole process and make it less time and resource-intensive for you. We'll be more than happy to schedule a free demo and walk you through the product.
 
Tips:
  • Adding supportive stats builds credibility on your brand.
  • Empathizing with your audience creates the most needed human touch. 

The next time when you are pitching to a potential, do weave a beautiful story using the "3C" strategy. Here are some bonus tips to help you deliver an exceptional pitch 
  • Listening is the key. Don't be a monologue but strike a conversation with the buyers. There is a preconception that talking more will make the sale. But it is the other way around. Letting your buyers speak about their challenges helps you to build meaningful connections and to create a story that is more relevant to them. 
  • To deliver the pitch exceptionally well? You need to practice, practice and practice until you can't get it wrong.
  • Being empathic is the golden rule. And that's what makes us human.
  • Control your emotions if the buyer disagrees with you. Don't find ways to prove them wrong, instead, figure out ways to find a common ground.
  • Don't affect your customer's emotions or cause any emotional pain that might cause cognitive dissonance.
A lot of businesses have started embracing storytelling as part of their brand identity. Sales reps have challenged the conventional sales pitch by prioritising customer connections leveraging storytelling. Comment below, how are you utilising storytelling in your sales pitch.


      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • Sticky Posts

          • As Sales Person, Here are my New Year Resolutions. What are Yours?

            Being a salesperson, I keep learning from my mistakes and have noted a few changes that I need to make in my approach. I take these resolutions going into 2021, hoping to keep it going for as long as possible :) 1. I will not say "Yes, our product has
          • Once Upon a Sales Meeting!

            It was an awkward silence in the meeting room "Uproar." John Kowalski, the new sales manager, was not happy with the team's performance. After scribbling something in the notepad, he decided to break the silence, John: I cannot believe you guys have been working like this. No reports, delusional forecasting, random targets, and no eye on the ball. Kevin: We followed Richard's orders. John: Well, Richard is not here anymore, is he? John walked up to the whiteboard, and wrote in big bold letters: "TARGET

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ








                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Ticketbai! en el Pais Vasco

                                    Hola a todos, En enero de 2.022 se va a implantar en el país vasco un nuevo sistema de facturación, denominado ticketbai!, ¿hay alguna previsión de realizar las adaptaciones en zoho books o zoho invoices? Ignoro la cantidad de clientes que tienen estas
                                  • Zoho CRM mobile app feature update: home page widgets, field tooltips and user image upload

                                    Hello everyone! Your business doesn't pause when you're on the move, and neither should your CRM. That's why in our latest update, we've introduced a few new features to make your mobile CRM experience smoother and more efficient. Let's take a quick look
                                  • Zoho CRM Plain Text Template: Line Breaks and Formatting Issue

                                    Hello, I'm following the instructions to create email templates in Zoho CRM, but I'm having a problem with the plain text version. https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/zoho-sign/integrations/zoho-apps/zoho-crm/articles/zoho-crm-email-templates#Steps_to_create_a_custom_email_template
                                  • Optimizing Task Handling: Auto-Remove Recurrence for cancelled Tasks.

                                    Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:
                                  • Important updates to your connectors

                                    Hello everyone, Greeting from Zoho Creator! We're excited to announce that we'll be rolling out significant backend updates to Zoho Creator's built-in connectors to enhance security by following the latest frameworks. The existing version of some of the
                                  • Create, collaborate, and manage agreements with Zoho Sign

                                    Agreements drive business. We launched Zoho Sign in 2017 as a simple digital signature tool to sign agreements from anywhere, at any time. Over the years, we've learned that most agreements go through last-minute changes before they're signed. Our users
                                  • Function #25: Automatically generate purchase orders from a sales order

                                    We kicked off the "Function Fridays" series with the goal of helping you automate your everyday accounting tasks. As we delve into today's post, I'm delighted to announce that we're here to present the 25th custom function in this series. While it is
                                  • Has Anyone successfully integrated Zoho and Sage Intact?

                                    Hey all, We’re evaluating Zoho One + Sage Intacct and I’m trying to connect with anyone who has actually implemented the two together.Specifically, I’d love to know: -- Which functions you kept in Zoho vs. Intacct (e.g., Product Catalog, AR/AP, invoicing,
                                  • DNS set up

                                    I want to create an email with my company domain. When I tried to add new record with cloudflare it didn't work. The DNS record can't be manually added. I followed the instruction but still can't add it. Could you help?
                                  • 5名限定 課題解決型ワークショップイベント Zoho ワークアウト開催のお知らせ (9/25)

                                    ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。Zoho ユーザーコミュニティチームの藤澤です。 9月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 今回はZoomにて、オンライン開催します。 ▷▷参加登録はこちら:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/6OSF2Bh6TumsMIlDwaY_PQ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは? Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目的とした「Zoho
                                  • hiding a topic from all but one segment (or list)

                                    My organization sends out a number of newsletters using Zoho Campaigns. One of those newsletters is for volunteers. In order to become a volunteer, a person has to first go through our volunteer orientation (training). After that, they can receive newsletters
                                  • How do I set up this automation correctly?

                                    When contacts enter my Subscribers list, I want it to reference a custom field to see if it is empty. Then I want it to do two things: If empty: Assign a tag based on a different custom field. If that custom field is empty, assign a different tag. If
                                  • Function #62: Display associated Quote on Invoice details screen

                                    Hello everyone! Today, we are sharing a Related List script that makes it easy to view and access the quote from which an invoice was created right from the invoice details screen. This Related List displays the Quote number and Amount, allowing you to
                                  • Custom confirmation message

                                    How can I change the message that users see after they submit the booking form? I have to confirm some details before their appointment is officially "confirmed", so I want to change it where it doesn't say their appointment is "confirmed" but rather
                                  • email forwarding not working

                                    Your email forwarding service does not work. I received the confirmation email and completed the confirmation, after that nothing and nothing since no matter what I have tried. Shame as everything else was smooth. I spose it's harder to run one of these web based internet mail services than you guys thought!!! can you fix the email forwarding asap PLEASE!
                                  • Desk x CRM Integration

                                    Howdy! We currently use SalesIQ but we are considering moving across to Desk as it seems to have more functionality that we want. One of the pulls is the ability for our customers to self serve. But, I might be getting over excited and not actually need
                                  • Function #53: Transaction Level Profitability for Invoices

                                    Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! We have previously provided custom functions for calculating the profitability of a quote and a sales order. There may be instances where the invoice may differ from its corresponding quote or sales order.
                                  • Issue with Save & Share Link – Works for Others but Not Creator

                                    I’ve enabled the "Save and Share" feature in Zoho Forms, and it works correctly for all users accessing the public link—except for me (the form creator). Issue Details: When I save and share the link, recipients see a “no permission” error. The form is
                                  • Save the pdf report from a registration form in a Folder

                                    Through Zoho Forms I created a registration form with quite a lot of rules to handle different variables (TEAM types, payment in installments, etc.), and the result is pretty good. The automatic PDF that is sent to the respondent upon submission is already
                                  • zoho forms integration to zoho work drive

                                    Scenario: A user fills out a Zoho Form, entering details such as email, mobile number, and other required information, and uploads supporting documents like PAN, Aadhaar, etc. Upon submission, the data is available in Zoho Forms Reports. Requirement:
                                  • Zoho Forms to Zoho CRM Integration failed - can I restart it?

                                    The integration of Zoho Form to Zoho CRM has failed. Is there a way for me to restart it for the impacted entry?
                                  • insert an equation, but in document, it shows an image not available.

                                    I'm new to Zoho writer and used Zoho writer in desktop app version . When I inserted an equation, I got an image not available sign. Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Charles
                                  • Zoho Desk Android app update - Swipe action customization

                                    Hello everyone! We have brought in support for the swipe action customization in latest version(v2.9.13) of the Zoho Desk Android app update, enabling you to configure left and right swipe gestures on tickets to carry out the actions swiftly without opening
                                  • Import KB template OR Export template for zoho desk?

                                    Greetings. Can you tell me if there is a way to get an EXPORT of my KB articles? OR is there a template you supply for importing KB articles into my zoho desk? I am looking for a method of understanding what fields can be imported, and what their possible
                                  • XML format to import knowledgebase into Zoho Desk

                                    Hi, We just started to use Zoho Desk and want to import our knowledgebase from our old support system (Freshdesk) to Zoho Desk. Can anyone give us information about the format of xml file to import? There is no explanation on the related page.
                                  • Zoho Desk integration with Power BI

                                    Hi, I want to be able to create a Power BI report which has live updates of ticket data from zoho desk, is this possile at all? Thanks Jack
                                  • Arranging Ticket Templates

                                    Is there any way to arrange our ticket templates? It doesn't look very organised when it's just arranged according to when they were created. We want the list to look more organised, by arranging/grouping them by topics, or even just by alphabetical
                                  • What they mean with "Portal"?

                                    I just downloaded this app to take my personal notes on digital art studio because it seemed to me the most comfortable app to do it, I use it very often, what do they mean by “no activity on your portal”? I have about 1 year of work here and I don't
                                  • Inactive User Auto Response

                                    We use Zoho One, and we have a couple employees that are no longer with us, but people are still attempting to email them. I'd like an autoresponder to let them no the person is no longer here, and how they can reach us going forward. I saw a similar
                                  • favorites no longer listed

                                    Hello, I can no longer navigate to my Favorites from the pulldown at the top of my grid view (see attached screenshot). I wasn't able to find it anywhere! Please help me display my Favorites. Thank you!
                                  • Notecards Disappeared

                                    Got a new phone. Downloaded and signed in Zoho Notebook. Not finding the Note cards. Just Empty Note books. Frustrating.
                                  • Table Errors

                                    Hello, I'm new to Zoho Notebook and using it on several Mac/Apple devices. My question is regarding tables: Why do they become broken, and how to fix the error without retyping all my data? (Please see the screenshot attached.)
                                  • Aggregating the First Value in the Group By of a dataset

                                    Hi I am trying to get the following Aggregate Formula to work in my chart, but cannot seem to get the right format. I have a series of data that I am running an include_groupby and want to SUM only a column in the first row of each group. So for example.
                                  • Online Calculator with Zoho Forms?

                                    I'd like to build a custom calculator on my website. Zoho Forms seems to offer all the fields for basic calculations performed live without pressing any "Calculate" buttons. Unfortunately, there is still that "Submit" button at the bottom. There is nothing
                                  • Zoho Tables instead of Zoho Creator Spreadsheet reports <3

                                    That would make my day for sure. Zoho Creator is create, but miss data entering as AirTable/Spreadsheet can. Seeing Zoho putting effort in this makes me think maybe one day we could see a similar interface for Zoho Creator spreadsheet reports. B.
                                  • Zoho Sheet - Desktop App or Offline

                                    Since Zoho Docs is now available as a desktop app and offline, when is a realistic ETA for Sheet to have the same functionality?I am surprised this was not laucned at the same time as Docs.
                                  • Notebook Stack

                                    Hi Everyone I Hope you´re fine, I´m sorry if this idea was posted before (I made a search but I haven´t find anything related). So, Having the possibility of stacking notebooks would be an interesting way to order notebooks that correspond to the same
                                  • Writing on sketch cards is bugged when zoomed in

                                    When zoomed in, it writes a noticeable distance above or to the side of where you're actually trying to write. The further you're zoomed in, the more noticeable it is. Zooming is also entirely absent on the desktop version.
                                  • Swipe between notes on iPhone

                                    It'd be convenient if I could move from one note to the next in a notebook simply by swiping left to right.
                                  • Sales IQ chat is not working in signed android apk

                                    I have integrated ZOHO sales IQ support chat and i have followed each step and its working fine in my development build but when i create signed APK for it. Chat does not work in it and showing awaiting for detail. I previously asked the same query but
                                  • Next Page