In 2011, I was trying to get an appointment with a manufacturing prospect for months. Vector Firm was a perfect fit for them, but I couldn’t get past the first few statements before being shut down. The GM and the president were both tough on outside help. Well, I finally got the president to commit to an appointment at the ASIS show that year in Orlando. He decided to meet with me as a favor to a friend of mine. He was the nicest guy you could imagine (and still is), but I could tell that there wasn’t much interest as I was going through my pitch. I realized this, so I stopped in the middle of my presentation and asked if he had any questions or if he saw any relevance. Thankfully he was honest and said:
“Chris, I still don’t quite understand what you do.”
So, I folded the laptop and told him this story…
My wife is a very reactionary, action-oriented person. She never has a plan for anything, but gets more done in one day than anyone I know – it just might not be the right things sometimes. She’s like a lot of sales people in that way.
A friend of mine, Cliff, is a manager at UPS. Cliff knows what he’s going to do every second of the day and operates in the most efficient manner a human can operate. He’s like a clock.
My company implements programs for security companies that help their sales people operate with the charisma and spontaneity of my wife and the proficiency of Cliff. That’s what we do.
I have to admit – that was the first time I used that story outside of a social setting with people that know my wife and Cliff – and it worked. My future client got it, and remembered it…
About two months later, after a few unreturned calls, he called me from a conference line with his team of managers, and asked me this question: “Chris, can you tell my team the story about your wife and the Fedex guy?” After the laughter subsided and I corrected him – it was UPS – we had a very productive conversation.
Question: Do you think he would’ve remember my mission statement or statistics about my successes two months later? No way. However, he did remember my story. We all remember stories.
Strategy #1 to become a great public speaker: Tell stories. Use stories to illustrate your benefits. Share stories to gain engagement at the opening. Use stories to explain what you do and how you’re different. Your audience will remember stories, but they won’t remember data, statistics, or impressive statements.
What do you think? I’d love to hear any examples that validate my “power of the story” proclamation.
