Sales, Stories, and Car Accidents – by Brad Rhame
My entire “driving” life I have always wondered why people feel the need to slow down, when driving past an accident. I mean, they see stuff like this or worse on TV…right?! Well, it finally made sense to me over twenty years later.
I was driving home last night and came to find out that I couldn’t even pull down my street, because there was a car that had crashed into a telephone pole and knocked down a power line. My family was outside watching everything happen and so I joined them. We were like bugs attracted to a light. With all the ambulance, police and fire department lights, we were all amazed at what was going on.
As I was standing there watching this event unfold, I realized I was like one of “those people” who would slow down at an accident to see what was going on. Then, I remembered a YouTube video that I had watched a couple days earlier, by Christine Clifford. She was talking about selling to people through the use of stories. Her main point was to use your story to get people interested in your product or service.
This all made sense as we were standing there at the car accident site. We were wanting to know the story of what happened. This required us to pay attention to the details, through our eyes and ears. When we finally had most of the details, we were able to put the story together for others to hear.
That is why we go and see movies, read books, and listen to music. We want a story told to us. People love stories and some love telling those stories. Think of how people gather around to hear others tell an amazing event that happened to them. That is why it is so important to be a good story teller.
Those who can master the art of story telling can transfer that into their sales presentations. By capturing a client’s attention, through the art of story telling, we can give them a better idea of how our product or service works. So, if you want to become great at sales, then you need to master the art of telling a good story…your story.
There is one nice thing that this revelation has done for me twenty years later. I won’t become frustrated anymore at people, in traffic, who slow down to watch an accident. They are just looking for a story to tell.
Brad Rhame 