selling
There’s a story in there – I just know it…
I was reading an article from Nancy Duarte about Strengthening Culture with Storytelling, and it made me think about how important a skill storytelling can be in business and how it can be far more effective than just presenting facts and data. These are just a few examples. You probably have many of your own.
One of the best salespeople I’ve ever known wasn’t a salesperson at all. It is Jon Vice, former CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Jon is very personable and has the ability to make each person feel like they are the most important person in the room (quite a skill in itself). Jon would talk to a room of people and tell a story. Mid-story, you were hooked. You completely bought what he was selling, often without knowing what the “ask” was. It was an amazing thing to experience.
Years ago, when my company was funding medical research projects, my oldest daughter (then only four years old) and I watched a presentation on the mid-term findings of one of the projects. I did this to personalize what they were doing so it would have more impact. The MD/Ph.D. giving the presentation was impressive, but what he showed was slide after slide of data. After 10-15 minutes, my daughter held her Curious George stuffed animal up in front of them (where the shadow would be seen on the screen) and proclaimed, “Boring!”
Six months later, that same person gave his wrap-up presentation. It was short and told an interesting story that explained why these findings were important, laying the groundwork for a follow-on project. A few years later he commented that his initial presentation became a valuable lesson. That was when he realized the story the data told was far more compelling than just the data itself.
A few years ago, the company I work for introduced a high-performance analytics database. We touted that our product was 100 times faster than other products, which happened to be a similar message used by a handful of competitors. In my region, we created a “Why Fast Matters” webinar series and told the stories of our early Proof of Value efforts. This helped my team make the first few sales of this new product and change the approach the rest of the company used to position this product. People understood our value proposition because these success stories made the facts tangible.
I tell my teams to weave the thread of our value proposition into the fabric of a prospect’s story, goals, and aspirations. We become part of their story, and this new story becomes their own (as opposed to our story). This simple approach has been very effective.
What if you not selling anything? Your data tells a story – even more so with big data. Whether you are analyzing data from a single source (such as audit or log data) or correlating data from multiple sources, the data has a story to tell. Whether patterns, trends, or correlated events – the story is there. And once you find it, there is so much you can do with it.
Whether you are selling, managing, teaching, coaching, analyzing, or just hanging out with friends or colleagues, being able to entertain with a story is a valuable skill. It is also a great way to make many things more interesting and memorable in business. So, give it a try.
What’s the Prize If I Win?
In consulting and in sales, there is a tendency to believe that if you show someone how to find that proverbial “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” they will be motivated to do so. Seasoned professionals tend to ask, “What problem are you trying to solve?” to understand whether there is a real opportunity.
Sometimes a mere pot of gold just isn’t enough to motivate. Usually the motivation is something very personal. What’s in it for them? Not what’s in it for me?
The skill is determining what matters most to the decision-maker and in what order, then showing how the proposed solution will bring them closer to achieving their personal goals.
Case in point. Several years ago, I tried to sell a packaged Business Intelligence (BI) system built on our database platform to the customers most likely to need it. Qualification performed – check. Interested – check. Proof of value – check. Quick ROI – check. Close the deal – not so fast…
This application was a set of dashboards with 150-200 predefined KPIs (key performance indicators). The premise was that you could quickly tailor and deploy the new BI system with little risk (finding and validating that the needed data was available to support their KPIs was the biggest risk, but one we could identify up front). The business impact and ROI were there, and we could deliver tangible value at half the cost of a typical similar implementation. Who wouldn’t want that?
I spent several days onsite with the prospect, identified areas of concern and opportunity, and used their data to quantify the potential benefit. By the end of the week, I could show the potential for an 8x ROI in the first year. Remember, I estimated this using their data, not random or industry figures. Being somewhat conservative, I suggested that even half that amount would be a big success. Look – we found the pot of gold!
Despite this, the deal never closed. This financial services company had a lot of money, and the CIO had a huge budget. Saving $500K+ on this project would be nice, but it wasn’t essential. While the impact was there, the urgency was lacking.
I later learned he was pushing forward an initiative of his own that was highly visible. The new system I proposed could have become a distraction, and he did not need that reputational risk. Had I made this determination sooner, I could have easily repositioned the offering to better align with and support his agenda.
For example, the system could have shifted its focus from financial savings to project and risk management for his higher-priority initiative. The KPIs could be on earned value, scheduling, and deliverables. This probably would have sold, as it would have been far more appealing to this CIO and supported what was important to him (i.e., his prize if he wins). The additional financial savings initially identified would be the icing on the cake, to be reinvested later.
Several lessons emerged from this effort. In this instance, I focused on my personal pot of gold (based on logic and common sense) rather than on my customer’s priorities and prize for winning. That mistake cost me this deal, but it is one I have not made since – helping me win many other deals.
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