Transcript
Intro:
Hi, everyone. I'm Ben Wright, successful entrepreneur, corporate leader and expert sales coach to some of the most talented people our amazing planet has to offer. You're listening to the Stronger Sales Teams podcast, where we bring together and simplify the complex world of B2B sales management to help the millions of sales managers worldwide build, motivate, and keep together highly effective sales teams…teams who grow revenue and make their businesses actual profits.
Along the journey, we also provide great insights and actionable steps to managing your personal health. A happy and productive you is not only better for your teams, but everyone around you. So if you're an ambitious Sales Leader who wants to build the highest performing and engaged teams, Stronger Sales Teams is right where you need to be.
Ben Wright:
Welcome back to Stronger Sales Teams, the place where we provide real world and practical advice to help you develop super powered sales teams. We are rolling with speed into the new year. It feels like it happens every year. It feels like we move from that sprint into Christmas. We down tools, have a blissful period for most of us of not doing much at all and then bang, we’re straight back into it. And by the time this one’s going to air, we hopefully have been all around a couple of places in Australia and personally we had a nice trip through to the USA planned. So, by now we should have been out to Breckenridge skiing, a road trip through Phoenix, out to Joshua Springs, sorry, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, and then through San Fran and LA. So, bit of a cool little family adventure before our little one heads off to school this year. But gee, it fades really quickly once you’ve had that experience.
But for me, what often happens through these experiences is that we build a greater breadth of world experience and knowledge when we get to do things outside of what day to day tends to take up most of our lives. And that tends to be our professional lives and our personal lives. And our personal lives really during the year they tend to revolve around family or health and fitness or a lot of routine rather than being able to necessarily have those fantastic experiences.
So, for me, one of the things that I like to take out of any experience I have, whether it be professional or personal, is where I can find some really great stories that relate through in particular my professional life. And I will put a little asterisk here to say that it doesn’t just have to be your professional life. I find that stories work anywhere in life, be it with friends, be it with family, be it in teaching our children as they grow up all about the types of things that are important stories are a wonderful way to be able to engage them too. And in fact, I often find some of the best storytellers I ever meet are children. They have these wonderful senses of imagination that I’m a little bit envious of. Right. I would love to have kept that sense of play and fun and imagination to the same level that children have all the way through life. But alas, we take on more responsibility, we grow, and we have plenty of other things that are fantastic about our lives.
So the point of that long introduction is that having spent some time away from the office is when I love to be able to come back and say, right, what are some stories that I’ve got to tell that are going to land with other people when it comes to particular concepts, systems, processes, ideas, anything that I’m trying to teach through the consultancy business that we have. And for me, storytelling is one that I don’t think I’ve ever met. A salesperson who hasn’t expressed an interest to get better at, but certainly something that I find very few people have been able to master. And for us, for this podcast series, we certainly started the storytelling theme back in about episode 58, and that was with Akeem Shannon, who was the owner of Flipstik. And I loved that episode. In fact, we played it last week in our 100th episode. It was one of my top three favourite episodes that I’ve recorded over the last couple of years. And there are some snippets in there from Akeem. So, if you listen to that, you know today is going to be right up your alley. If you didn’t, please jump back in and have another listen because there was a really great conversation with Akeem that I still remember kind of 12 months on.
But today I would like to talk a little bit more about storytelling. I’m going to try to simplify what can be despite I think, obvious or initial impressions that storytelling can be quite easy, I actually think storytelling can be quite difficult. And I think to be able to master it and repeatedly tell good stories that engage your audiences, whether they be reports, whether they be colleagues, whether they be senior management, to be able to master the art of storytelling is very, very difficult. And you need to have a few things pre-prepared and practiced to be able to nail that.
So today I’m going to run through a couple of ideas that you might be able to take away for yourself and for your teams as you move into the new year, around how we can tell better stories more regularly. And I think that’s the kicker for me how we can really regularly roll storytelling in into what we are trying to do as leaders ourselves.
So, let me get into it. This is gonna be a complete solo episode. I think you’ll enjoy particularly the couple of the frameworks that I’m gonna throw out there for you to be able to use.
Okay, so just to repeat, if you haven’t listened to 58 with Akeem Shannon, go back and do so. If you’ve only got a short period of time, jump back to episode 100 last week, and that will certainly help give you a run in here. But for me, when it comes to storytelling, I like to think about what makes great storytellers. And there’s certainly some obvious pieces around having charisma, around having the ability to speak publicly. And I think they’re public storytellers. And for me, I actually think there’s two types of storytellers. There’s a public storyteller and there’s a private storyteller. So, I call them a macro storyteller and a micro storyteller. And it’s certainly a lot harder to master the public storytelling. But I would say at a micro or private level, some of those skills that we see really present in stage storytellers or public storytellers aren’t actually as important. And that’s the ability to have that charisma, to be able to engage an audience. I think that is less and less of a key determinant of a great storyteller. The smaller your audience has become. In fact, the smaller your audience has become. I think there’s a few other skills that become equally, if not more important than having that charisma and the ability to present. And for me, those storytellers that I’ve met across my life who are great at, look really at both a macro and micro level, or private and public level. They tend to have some skills beyond those surface level attributes. And the first one for me that I see really regularly is they generally tend to have a framework around how they tell stories.
So, you think of a story having a beginning, a middle, and an end. I mean, that’s a very basic way to follow the art of storytelling. But they actually tend to go a little bit deeper and have something that works for them. I’m going to go through a storytelling framework that really works for myself and for the teams that I work with later on in this podcast. So, we’ll leave that as it is for now. But certainly that’s the first attribute I see. They’re really impactful around storytelling because they have a repeatable framework that they can roll out again and again and again.
The second piece, which you could argue is quite obvious, but I think often underplayed, is actually having written down a bunch of stories that you can draw from. Yes, there are stories that naturally occur for me. I’ve got some great stories around the sale of our business, around some of the great highlights we had around the Echo Group, you know, our major sustainability business. I’ve got some great stories around when I had my fruit and vegetable business, my market runners, right? This was all about produce from farms to doorstep as quickly as we can. And there’s some terrific stories around there. I’ve got stories from sporting parts of my life where I’ve had, you know, some moments of adversity, where I’ve had some moments of success. And there are types of stories that I can roll quite easily, but I’ve also been able to write down a large number of stories that I know I can tell when I want to be able to roll them out. And I think for me, by having them written down and being able to refer to them, it allows me to use them more regularly because I’ve practiced them and repeated them. So, storytellers, to me, they have a framework, they have written their stories down. And the third piece I’ve already alluded to here is that they’ve practiced telling them. So, whether they’ve practiced telling them in the mirror to their family and friends or actually practice them in real life in a commercial sense, doesn’t really matter. What they’ve been able to do is practice those stories, get the first rough drafts out of the way. You know, the first cut is always the deepest. As one of my favourite TV shows, the Entourage, when I was growing up, used to say, they’re producing me, Ian. And the editor says, the first cut, it’s the most important. It’s always the deepest. And Vinnie Chase is sitting there going, ahah, right? Deer in the headlights. But for me, getting really practiced at being able to tell the story in a way that lands, that’s worth something. So not only have great storytellers used a framework they’ve written their stories down, but they’ve also practiced these stories so that when they tell them, they hit the mark because they’ve been able to workshop what does and doesn’t work.
I will say that for me, I’ve seen a lot of great storytellers evolve over my time in business. I’m 25 years now in business, and some people now that I see as terrific storytellers weren’t originally great storytellers. In fact, they really had to work hard at honing their craft. It took practice, it took the building of skill, and it certainly took the application of will very much within storytelling. It’s a will and skill approach where I think that you need to be prepared to invest your time into storytelling, but you also need to recognize that sometimes there’s some skills to be learned. And for me, that comes down to the framework which we’re going to go through in a moment.
So great storytellers, I think there’s some really impactful things for you to think about, particularly if you’re looking to tell stories at a more private or micro level. We don’t necessarily all have to go hit the stage and be big time storytellers.
So where to start when it comes to storytelling? There’s a few areas that I’ve seen people I’ve worked with have great success from as a baseline level of storytelling. And for those of you who work with the business, as you hear through some of these, you’ll be going, aha, aha. I’ve certainly heard Ben talk through those. But the number one here is to get really clear on the narrative. So what’s the point of the story? Now this certainly supports writing down your stories and having practiced them, but whenever we’re telling a story, it’s really nice to start with the end in mind. So was it a great customer outcome? Was that the point of the story? Was it a product that over delivered? Was it a service that uncovered hidden pain points or opportunities the business had never seen themselves? Was it a project or an installation that actually went pear shaped and how you were able to resurrect that through some really great customer service, what was the point of that story that makes it impactful? Because if we know the point of the story, it will help us as we go along the journey of telling it to make sure we keep on track?
No doubt we’ve all heard storytellers who will start talking about a road trip or a journey to one destination, but they’ll have three or four pit stops along the way that go way off track. And sometimes I’ll even ask you, now where was I? Where was I at? Where do I need to come back to? They’re not necessarily the types of storytellers that land with everyone. Certainly there’s some points to some humility and personalization and openness in those. But for me, having the outcome end outcome in mind to keep you on track when you’re telling your Story is a really great place to start when you’re building out your database. The next part for me when it comes to thinking about where we start with telling great stories, is to make sure we’re getting the opening of these stories right. And I will say I’m going to bring these together with some practical tips for you as we get towards the end of it. But I want to talk through some of the theory or the practical theory, if you like, that I know has worked in the past.
So, second part here is once we’ve got the end in mind and the outcome ready to go is we start to think about how we can grab attention. And we want to grab attention from the moment we start that story. That can be through gaining curiosity. That’s a really, really fantastic way to do it. Right. Often with asking a question, have you ever wondered what would happen if or did I ever tell you about the time that I, you know, or have you seen the latest results that this business grew by this amount? Right. When we’re grabbing that curiosity straight away, which we’re often doing through words. That’s a fantastic way to start a story. But it doesn’t have to be the only one. I’m a big, big proponent of telling a story or gaining curiosity through a visual. So, putting into people’s minds the visual of something that’s special or important to me, or actually holding in my hands something that people can tune into straight away and grab that connection with the story. I feel visual for me is the most impactful way that I can tell stories, which is why I lean on it really, really heavily. But it can also come down to the tone of your voice, the pitch and the speed in which you start the story. It’s a great way to grab people’s attention because it will break them away from the mould of what you were previously talking about. Particularly if you’ve had a meeting that’s back and forward and can be high paced. If you can slow down that room or grab people’s attention through a different tone of voice or pitch or volume of your voice, that absolutely is a way that I think storytelling can be quite powerful.
So, we’re talking here about how we can or where we can start to tell good stories. And the first piece for me was have the end in mind. The second piece was really start to get people’s attention through curiosity, if you can as quickly as you can within a story.
Third piece here is all around being authentic. It’s not always possible to tell if a story is made up. But I think it is possible to tell the genuineness in most instances behind people and their stories. If you believe in what you’re saying. That is, if it’s a story that really happened or if it’s a result that you really stand behind, that generally comes out in how people pitch their stories. So, for me, when we’re sitting down writing our stories, we need to make sure it’s an authentic story that’s relatable to us. For example, if it’s a story about an event in your life that was a fleeting moment and it’s had very little impact on you, then that’s not necessarily going to come across as impactful. If it’s about a sport that you’re really involved with. Right. Telling a story about basketball if you have very little association with basketball, less authentic if. If it’s a story about places that you’ve never been. Right. Or topics that you’ve never really had anything to do with, less authentic. But on the flip side, if there’s stories about sports you are super passionate about, running, swimming, triathlon, skiing, or even AFL. Football would be my type of sport. Family things you do at the beach would be absolutely right up my alley. Traveling places I’ve been to the States, for example. Sports that I’ve had experiences in at different levels. Water polo was one along the journey. Right. I mentioned sports I’m interested in, but they’re sports you’ve played as well. Professional experiences that you’ve had. Bought businesses, sold businesses, built businesses. Terrific results you’ve delivered for customers. Troubled results you’ve been able to turn around for customers. Authenticity is very hard to replace.
So, if I’m looking at where to start when it comes around storytelling, the first place I’m looking to start, absolute first place, is making sure I’m clear on my narrative, right. What the end outcome is. The second thing I’m looking to do is grab people’s attention early. And I’d say early and often you want to keep that engaging up through the story. And the third piece is all around being authentic. So really believing in what you’re saying or the story that you’re telling comes out in droves for the audiences at the other side. Right.
So, I think at this point, it’s a great time to run through a structure that I’ve seen work really well for dozens and dozens of dozens of people this year, if not into the hundreds. And that’s using a framework to tell your story that simply helps you set it up. It’s certainly clunky when you first start to do this, building out this framework isn’t one where I would pass through an expectation that you use it once and your storytelling becomes seamless. I would say it’s a process you probably need to go through 10, 15, 20 times before you start to nail. But once it becomes subroutine, I. E. Once you start to memorize it, we talk about building habits after 21 times and then three, lots of 21 to really cement them. Wouldn’t not surprise me if it needed to go down this path of 21 times to get this one right. But once we start to really cement these habits, it becomes automatic and we don’t necessarily need to think about this framework each time we’re telling stories anymore.
But the framework that I’ve seen work really successfully and one that I certainly use myself is to break your story down into four segments. So rare you’ll hear things in four. For me, I’m normally a threes or fives type of person, but for this one here, it’s to break it down into four segments. So, number one is what’s the opportunity or problem that you need to solve? Is it a problem of a company not servicing their customers most effectively enough? Is an opportunity for one of your partners to be able to sell more product to expand their business or are they solving a people related problem? Right. What is that opportunity or problem that you are there to solve? What is the opportunity or problem that this story has solved?
Number two is the impact that solving this problem had on the company. Now where I like to phrase this is actually talk about the impact it had prior to you implementing the solution. So, the working example I want to use here is in a sales team that wasn’t generating enough leads. So, if we talk about the opportunity, the opportunity for this team is that they needed to generate more leads across the team.
Okay, so company ABC, call the company whatever you like. Let’s call it company Noosa Heads. They needed to solve a problem of getting more leads into their business. The impact that not having enough leads was having on the business was that the team was falling short of budget. So, team Noosa Heads was not hitting their sales results because they weren’t generating leads across the business. So that’s number one and two, the opportunity or the problem and the impact it was having on the customer. The description of the solution is what someone in that team did to solve that problem or bring the opportunity to life. So, in this instance we had Noosa Heads was not generating enough leads across the team, which was resulting in them falling shorter budget. But Jenny from the team, she attended three networking events and booked six meetings in the last week. So, Jenny in this business decided that she was going to take lead generation into her own hands, headed out to networking events, got her pitch right and booked six meetings from it.
The fourth piece, so the first, second and third is the opportunity or problem. The impact that it was having on the company, the team or the customer. The third piece there was the description. What they did about it or what you did about it doesn’t matter, whoever the subject of the story is. And the fourth piece here is the outcome that was delivered to the customer, to the team, to the business, to the individual.
So, in this instance, the outcome was that if Jenny hit her budget for that month, and then if everyone booked six meetings in a month from their own personal lead generation activities, the business would hit budget and likely overachieve it.
So, let me run through those again. In terms of the story structure, Number one is the opportunity or problem you’re trying to solve. Number two is the impact it has on the subject, be it company, team or customer individual. The third piece is description of the solution. And the fourth piece is the outcome that it delivers. So, it’s quite straightforward. Opportunity or problem, impact, solution and outcome.
So, this is how the story would go. Putting it all together, we needed to generate more leads across our team. By not generating leads, we were falling short of budget and it was having a significant impact on the sales team. What Jenny from our team did is she went and actually attended three networking meetings herself and booked six meetings from those networking events. And that was all in the space of one week as a team. We all sat down and we realized that if we could all just attend three networking events per month and book six meetings from it, that we would more than likely not only stop missing our targets, we’d hit them and probably overachieve them just by attending three meetings each per month.
So, there you can see that’s quite a short, punchy story. It doesn’t have a lot of humour or flavour to it. I’ve kept that really, really simple. But the point is that it’s actually evidenced an example. It’s given some social proof around how our team has generated more leads in the past. Now, we can certainly expand upon those stories, and I’m more than happy to talk or hear about your storytelling pitches if you want to reach out to me directly. But the point is, if we can practice telling stories through a repeatable structure, that’s when things start to really turn for us, because I’ve certainly said that if we can get our outcome clear, if we can grab curiosity or grab attention with our story early, and then if we can be authentic in how we tell it, we’ve got some of the building blocks ready. If we add to those three areas having a repeatable structure that we can draw from, what that does is it gives us a place to start whenever we’re telling a story. It gives us a place to use as a baseline that we can repeat again and again and again. And consistency absolutely builds predictability. And often when things are predictable, we can become really, really good at them, really well practiced at them.
So, for me, when it comes down to storytelling, I would really encourage you to think about building out a framework to be able to tell your stories from now. For me, how can we take today’s podcast and practically roll it into our working days? I’d recommend you take an approach like this, either yourself or with your teams. And the first one would be to sit down and get a piece of paper. I can send across some information. If you need it, please get in touch with me directly. LinkedIn. [email protected] but what I’d do is I’d actually start by getting everyone to build out their stories, build a central repository of stories that we can all tell from now. You might want to share those across the team or do them individually, it doesn’t matter. But if we can get those stories ourselves first, then we’re off. We’re ready to go. Everyone has a bank of stories.
The second one is to get that framework rolled out within your team. Get everyone practicing some of those stories they’ve written down through that framework.
The third piece is then to start to work on the narrative. So, the outcome, grabbing attention and being authentic, that becomes very much a skill part of storytelling. And if you need some help with that, let me know. But it’s certainly being able to tell good stories is something that’s within everyone’s grasp. You don’t all or we don’t all need to be brilliant public storytellers. But if we can nail it within our business, within our customers and smaller audiences, for me, that’s well within the grasp of the majority of salespeople I’ve ever worked with.
So, there we have it. There’s some punchy information in there around storytelling. It pairs with the more aspirational piece from episode 58 that I’ve mentioned a few times. But certainly, getting a framework right for storytelling I think is the best step. We can take as salespeople or sales leaders to really drive improvements on it from ourselves into the future. So that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed the storytelling podcast. Welcome back to the New Year for those who are just starting to get back into things. But until next time, or until we meet again on the podcast next week, keep living in a world of possibility and you’ll be amazed by what you can achieve. Bye for now.
E101 How to Improve Your Storytelling Skills
