Storytelling: A Dying Art Form?

The rise of big data has been a double-edged sword for some. While customers have embraced data as it allows for easier price comparisons, their persistent focus on short-term savings has created new challenges for sellers—mainly, by undercutting the power of storytelling.

A member we recently spoke with shared how increasingly data-driven customers in the electronics industry have become so focused on price that they often lose sight of their vision and initial objectives behind a purchase.

"It's like trying to buy a painting based only on numbers and price comparisons–which is impossible–when in fact it's the story behind the painting that sells," he said, describing the whole situation.

His experience refers to a growing phenomenon we are seeing in sales today: customers' increasing use of data and rational reasoning in the purchasing decision (This, in fact, was one of the trends we believe every Sales Exec must know in 2012).

In today's tough economy, everyone wants to get the most for their money. It's natural for customers to try to break down deal components and compare apples to apples. And if customers want to do it that way, isn't it natural for sales reps to respond using data and numbers too?

But therein lies the problem. The customer's persistent focus on price and short-term savings distracts them from the real issue at hand—the long-term strategic value of your solution.

Likewise, in an effort to meet customer demands, reps have resorted to an emphasis on big data when crafting their pitches. But instead of using data to support their stories, they have in many cases used data in place of stories. Ultimately, this obsession with data has contributed to a decline in storytelling among reps, and caused customers and sales reps alike to lose sight of the big picture.

At the end of the day, your customer will be hearing different stories from each of your competitors—and it will come down to who had the most compelling pitch. While crafting a compelling story can be a struggle, it is a golden opportunity to teach customers something new about their business, and in this particular case, to provide healthy pushback and help them realize what they had lost sight of.

Being able to craft value propositions, identify unique differentiators, and communicate that value through Commercial Teaching is a skill key to closing business.  So don't lose sight of the big picture, and remember that Commercial Teaching is both a science and an art.

SEC Members, review more of our Commercial Teaching resources and explore other trends that every Sales Exec must know in 2012.