Significant Objects, a US Research company, decided to test the value of sales stories written to describe and enhance the value of a number of items they planned to sell on e-bay. All the items cost just over $128 but after putting a story behind each item, they eventually sold them all for $3612 in total – a staggering 2,700% increase on the cost price!
We may not ever have the opportunity to achieve comparable results, but we can all tell a story that adds real value to our proposition. So where do you start?
Begin at the Beginning
My story started some years ago with an advertising client I had never met. His name was Bob and he was the Marketing Director of a car rental business.
I went to see him and the first thing he said was “Barry, tell me a story. Tell me about yourself.” He caught me off-balance, but I knew I had to come through his test. I had stories – I just had to bring them to mind. What seemed to me like minutes was only seconds in fact and I was off.
When I finished he was ready to start the meeting but I stopped him. “Bob, you have the advantage, I want a story from you”. He laughed and readily told one. Every meeting after that we always started with a story. We got to know each other well and socialised outside the office.
As time went on his stories would often relate to what was happening in the business. Problems they had – depots not operating fully, customer complaints, PR issues. Whenever they were relevant, I took the problems back to the agency and we came up with solutions.
Bob was very pleased with our pro-active attitude and the help we were giving him. Over time, the stories helped his bottom line … and oursI
I often think if Bob had never asked me to tell a story, we would never have achieved these results.
Posted by Barry Graham on Monday, January 18th, 2016 in Features › News ›
Tags: Stories, stories add value to presentations, writing stories