"History’ is mostly ‘story."— Ken Burns

To improve your team's sales technique, find places in their presentations where they can tell stories. Most of us already use stories to get points across, but we don't always do it on purpose. When I observe sales calls I think, "oh, tell the XXX story," but I rarely hear any story being told. This is especially glaring when prospects are asking questions/objecting to something.
The reason it works is similar to the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words." A well-placed story does serious heavy lifting in a short time. Best of all, it's easy. There aren't many rules to follow: it's good to use personal anecdotes, short stories work better than epic tales, and specifics work better than generalities.
Help your people gather stories by reviewing your team's common objection cards. The ones that have an objection on one side, and the rebuttal/question on the back side. As you read out the objection, ask your team, "What's a quick story we can tell instead of a standard rebuttal?" It will take a few tries, but stories will emerge. They'll be rough, but you'll hear them.
Once the stories are out, I find it's easiest to refine the stories by pretending we are telling the story to a relative unfamiliar with our services. Someone like my Mom. If you can tell a story that helps her understand, you're on your way to some serious jumps in understanding.
To improve sales techniques, encourage the use of these short stories, metaphors, analogies, and similes. It's how we humans have communicated for eons.
Good stuff.
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