Stories That Sell - Persuading Customers To Buy

Some ad agencies are starting to get the message that good writers have understood for decades . . . stories sell. Sure, people still want information, but they are highly skeptical of claims that companies make, until they are wrapped in a story and metaphor.

Scott Goodson of the agency Strawberry Frog gets it (when I went to his site, it was very slow and tough to navigate, but his campaigns are worth seeing). His recent article Contagious: Have you heard?, is a must read if you hope to understand what makes advertising work and what slides below the customer's radar (bs detector). If you hope to influence people to buy, you must understand the proper use of a well told story.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to be launching another blog, this one all about persuasion and you’ll see a lot more about story telling in person, in print and in the media. My new book Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want will also cover storytelling in detail, it will be available next fall and is being published by Wiley.

The best salespeople (and ads and media releases and websites) are storytellers, but the stories are well crafted and have a purpose, to move you to action. Ask yourself this question: What would happen if instead of telling people all about benefits, I simply told them a story of how someone else used my product or service and as a result of specific benefits that are avaiable, solved their problem (saved the day), and then what if I asked them how they could see the product or service being used in their circumstance? The answer is "resistance is futile, I'll buy from you!"

Take a moment to click and comment below. What was the last good sales story you heard?