If you missed our webinar with sales strategist and keynote speaker Bernadette McClleland, no worries – we’ve got you covered with our Nimble Influencer Webinar Replay. In this webinar, Nimble CEO Jon Ferrara and Bernadette McClelland detail a step-by-step virtual workshop and reveal the secrets to authentically connecting and converting more sales, using stories (even if you’ve tried in the past and failed).
She is a natural storyteller, has been the Asia Pacific High Performance Coach for Anthony Robbins, Sales Mentor for Harvard MBA students, award-winning author and voted Top 50 sales speakers and awarded Top 35 Most Influential Women in Sales Globally. A high content, warm, yet direct speaker who walks her talk, you will be remembering her insights well after you leave the room.
The Big Idea is Transformation
“I want you to realize you are selling change. And what your buyers are buying is not your product or service, it’s your conviction.” ~Bernadette McClelland
When you sell change through story-selling, it allows you to leverage your story from transactional to transformational.
The Conversion Quadrant
As a seller, where do you fall under?
Ideally, where you want to get to is high conversions and high connections with your buyers.
These types of StorySellers are transformational with their clients because they’re connecting, and are effecting change. It’s about connecting with the right people, and building relationships and trust.
3 Secrets to Becoming a StorySeller
#1: Sell with Story
The story is a huge part of selling, as buyers see stories as informational and entertaining. However, if your story is only entertaining or only informational you are then story-telling and not story-selling.
The best way to start selling your story is to not frame it as a story, but rather focus on creating the transformation and shifting the way your buyer thinks.
The StorySeller Circles
When you can market your influence, you can influence your market.
The StorySeller Model focuses on the three types of stories you should be telling:
- Internal Stories you are telling yourself about your buyer, your opportunities, or pipelines first and finding the narrative behind them.
- External Stories you tell your buyer about the company, product, success story, or even case studies.
- Essential Stories you elicit from your buyer. As the seller, you need to ask the right questions to get stories from your buyer.
#2: Make it About Decision
You need to make your narrative about decisions, as one of the biggest mistakes sellers make is talking too often about the product. It’s not about the seller’s story, but rather about the buyer’s story. Your conversation with your buyer should not focus on the product but on helping them make the decision based on what is important to them.
You also need to invite your buyer to the next phase of the conversation. That next phase is about being conscious of the buyer committing to doing something (as well as the seller), otherwise, all the seller is doing is giving the buyer data and information.
The core of any sales conversation should be the intention of helping your buyer make a decision. Asking the right questions to the buyer, ultimately leads them on a journey of transformation and change.
#3: Follow a System
Following a system is key, because “winging” it or coming unprepared usually results in failure.
When you don’t have a framework or a system for our stories, the results become inconsistent. When you stop selling on the fly, you evolve into that transformational environment. Having a process provides your buyer with certainty. Because buyers ultimately buy your certainty and conviction which strengthens your success opportunities.
The Outcome Based Questions Model
This guide walks you through the neuroscience of selling with the outcome in mind. Understanding where the buyer is congruent with you and making a positive impact, ultimately makes it a win-win situation. This all happens through the questions you ask your buyer.
Bernadette’s Sales Acceleration Program:
We thank Bernadette for the opportunity to share with us her vast knowledge on StorySelling, and hope to have her back soon. Subscribe to our Nimble blog with more information about upcoming webinars to empower you to become inspired about the strength of social selling in business. You can follow Bernadette on twitter here, and Jon on Twitter here.
