STORYTELLER TACTICS REVIEW: SIMPLE SALES STORIES
Storyteller Tactics Review: a Story That Sells
It’s simple, it sells, it works!
∘ STORYTELLER TACTICS REVIEW: SIMPLE SALES STORIES
∘ It might be simple, but it’s deep
∘ But wait, there’s more!
∘ Spin-offs
∘ Trust me, I’m an expert
This is possibly the simplest and most effective hook to hang a selling story from. You barely need to mention the product.
Just show someone who has it and is better off for it.
Admit it, you’ve seen this tactic about a million times: someone just like you has a product and their lives are transformed for the better. They are smiling and happy and you want to be like them.
This person just like you has chosen to buy the product and they are winning.
In life’s game, do you want to be a winner as well? Of course you do. So there’s a bloody good chance you’ll buy what makes someone just like you smile.
It might be simple, but it’s deep
Here’s why it works. We might not be hunter-gatherer tribes any more but we still have those tribal behaviour genes built in. We support those we are closest to, we feel a kinship to those displaying the same badges or signs, we automatically look into the crowd to see where people like us are having fun and doing well.
Gender, age, occupation, sports. whatever. People just like us attract our attention. We share their values, their interests, their worries.
The boy with the toy, the teenager with the gadget, the man with the plan. They are smiling, they are happy, they are winning. Those without the thing — and that includes the viewer — look on wistfully.
It works for just about anything.
How do you sell insurance? Find someone just like us with a sad story that had a happy ending. Notice how the viewer can identify with either character and still come out ahead. Kids and teenagers don’t buy insurance so the ad will miss them completely but the target audience will hear it loud and clear.
This is simplicity itself. Construct a story around someone who has a problem solved or is otherwise satisfied by your product, and you are reaching out to people very likely to hear your message.
But wait, there’s more!
You can switch this sales story around. As the card indicates, as well as someone like you, it can be someone you like presenting the sales pitch.
A parental figure. A teacher. A health worker, a firefighter or a paramedic. A celebrity. A sports figure.
I’ll bet you’ve seen that tactic a million times too.
This is one reason why otherwise shonky merchandisers can shift shiploads of product. A televangelist or a “health expert” can advertise their cheap plastic icons or flavoured syrup nostrums and the gullible can’t get their credit cards out fast enough.
Because someone they trust is promoting a potential life-saving gizmo.
You ever fall for a best-selling author selling a mail-order course on how to write bestsellers? Same deal.
Of course, it helps if you’ve got the goods to begin with.
Spin-offs
This is where testimonials from satisfied customers — much like five-star reviews on Amazon, I guess — or university studies underwriting the claims help to seal the deal. Proof that the product works.
Just quietly, but most of the university students I met in my time were shambling wrecks who couldn’t be trusted to make their own bed in the morning or produce a healthy meal in the evening, but whatever.
Show someone using the product with a happy face, add a list of happy campers, and if a university professor says it’s the right stuff, you can chalk up another win.
Trust me, I’m an expert
Look, this tactic works. You can sell anything. The card references the Trust Me, I’m an Expert character card we’ll be looking at in more detail soon but if you need proof …
Imagine if a charismatic billionaire accustomed to wealth and power is selling the message. What’s more, he is the president of a nuclear superpower, accompanied by five-star generals on his mission, and directly blessed by the Almighty.
You’d believe what he says, right?
Just be very sure of your audience. Pitch encyclopaedias to parents and comic books to kids — not the other way around.
This is a storyteller tactic that works. Whether you are entertaining the children (“Once upon a time, there was a little princess, much like you, Jemima”) or selling a solution to a problem (“This car will save you money on fuel and pull in the supermodels, Billy”)*, use the Simple Sales Story tactic to keep your listeners believing.
This card is just one of 54 in the Storyteller Tactics deck from the Pip Decks people. It links naturally to the Trust Me, I’m an Expert and Pitch Perfect cards, which we’ll be looking at in due course. It’s also one of the steps in the Stories that Sell recipe, and I’ll show you how to use it to cook up a sell meal with you as the chef.
Use my discount code BRITNIPEPPER to get 15% off. I get a few dollars in return. The bold links above are affiliates, same deal. Or just go to the website, no strings attached, look around, discover the system for yourself.
My review series is free. I explore the cards, the systems, the tactics, link to independent reviews, and even show you how to get every word, every diagram, every dot point on every card for free, without paying a cent, with the blessing of the firm.
I believe in these cards. They are the wisdom of storytellers, passed on from ages past. The tactics work. They are a secret guide in the palm of your hand, and while they are expensive, they come with a money-back guarantee.
Britni
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*In reality, if you want to sell a sports car, don’t have a used car dealer do the talking. Let NASA take the photo of Apollo astronauts with their Chevy Corvettes. That’s real credibility.
