There is nothing more natural than listening to or delivering a compelling story. A story that is intriguing and one that creates excitement… particularly those that stir up emotions.

Just think about it, from a very early age most of us have been exposed to stories from our parents, grandparents, nursery school teachers etc. We’d sit on the edge of our seats hanging on every word…

As adults, when we talk to friends and family we naturally share stories. When you tell people about an interesting situation that arose during your day or whilst on holiday - it’s not very likely you’d just detail the list of events in a dull monotone fashion - is it? I expect not.

One of the secrets of top sales people the world over is effective storytelling. I don’t mean the “never let the truth get in the way of a good story” type of fabrication. I mean compelling, anecdotal, real life experiences with other customers and clients that can be shared with your prospects. Engaging stories full of emotional attachment and spelling out the benefits to the listener.

Here’s a format that will help you. Try using, “feel, felt, found”. Let me explain…

It’s fairly safe to make the assumption that most people are more interested in themselves and their problems than hearing about how wonderful your products and services are.

The thing that will fully engage people and allow them to freely discuss their problems in more detail in order for you to help them is to hear that you know how they “feel”.

They want to hear that other people you’ve helped “felt” just like they do.

Then you can explain through your story what those other people “found” that helped them solve whatever the problem was.

So instead of bashing away at all the features of your latest gadget or gizmo, tell them about clients just like them who have solved similar problems to those they are having and you will capture their interest.

Stories should focus on the drama, the emotion, the pain and the difficulties before you helped. Stir up the emotions of how that “feels”. You can reassure them by letting them know that others “felt” just the same and then lead them to the “found” and the happy ending.

Don’t waste too much time saying what you actually did for them. You’ll know they are interested because guess what… they’ll ask you!

Make some notes of all the key benefits of your products or services. Now think back to various situations where your product or service positively impacted another person or company. Spend some time building emotions and feelings into these situations until you have compelling stories.

When you’re with your friends you naturally trade stories, we all do. Selling is no different - be yourself. To sell more… sell less - if that makes sense.

In my experience, when using stories in general conversation, it is better to have your stories natural and unrehearsed rather than highly polished. Every feature has a benefit - and every benefit has a story.

You’ve probably heard this phrase before, but think about it; people don’t buy features they buy benefits. In other words, they buy the sizzle not the sausage.

How many of you can think back to the old Danish bacon adverts on TV? Can you picture the bacon sizzling in the pan? You could almost taste the bacon and smell the aroma wafting from the pan… Danishhhhhhhhhhh. It was the smell, the tasty cooked breakfast - quite literally, the sizzle they were selling.

In short… feature = dead pig, benefit = delicious breakfast - which one are you buying? (Apologies to any veggies reading this, but you get my point).

All too often business owners waste time, effort and money pushing feature after feature of their product or service and… you guessed it, the potential customers don’t care.

There’s an assumption that would-be clients will understand why they should buy the product or service just because they’ve been told about it. Thus, many business owners only communicate the features of their product or service to prospective customers and neglect to mention the benefits.

What they really care about is… what’s in it for them?

People purchase based on the benefits. What will they get from your product or service? How will they feel, what will they save and so on.

Take a look at your collateral materials and your web site. If you’re a “feature basher”, your work consists of flyers, letterhead, ads and a website all of which have your logo and company name, a list of things you do or the “features” of your products or service and your phone number. Are you surprised that no one cares enough to respond?

They don’t want you or your products: they want to know what you and your products or service can do for them!

This is often very difficult for many people to get to grips with. Here’s a very simple method of uncovering the benefit over the feature, try this;

“Which means that…” after you state any feature, let me give you an example.

Our long wheel base cars have extra leg room (feature, who cares?)… which means that your beautiful wedding dress will look as wonderful when you get out of the car as it did when you stepped in, (benefit) - that’s what the bride is buying!

Can you tell your features from your benefits? As a good rule for marketing, no feature should be mentioned without the back up and reinforcement of a benefit statement. Here’s the really great news - you can stack up dozens of benefits for every feature!

This applies to conversations with clients, your advertising, and your website - everything that’s going to touch a client or a prospect.

So you may need to change your entire mindset. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, see their problems, understand their fears, learn their wants and needs, and then provide the solution to them by way of benefits. That way you can stop selling and let people buy from you.

Take the time to understand your customers, and show them you understand what they want… and watch your sales shoot through the roof.