How to sell out using stories

You know, getting people's attention can be a lot of work. Everybody is busy with one thing or the other and if whatever you are bringing to the table is not exciting or inviting enough, they air you.

Sometime last year, during my stay in a camp, we used to have hours of lectures everyday. And since our facilitators were not storytellers, but bores, almost everybody got tired easily and ignored them, well I did too at some points.

We had one particular facilitator though who would always engage us with songs, or stories, it was actually hard to ignore her because she didn't let us, she was interesting. I can say she is the only one I still remember since I left the camp, just because she caught my attention.

Can you see the importance of storytelling? It catches people's attention. If you know how to play your game well, it keeps their attention. So, let's dive right into talking about how to sell out using stories.

According to Google, Storytelling describes the social and cultural activity of sharing stories. Remember that before writing came into being, storytelling had been. Therefore it can be said to be an effective tool in passing down history and information.

So, how does it affect sales? Storytelling majorly, to affect your sales, catches your audience's attention, it gets them to know all they need to know about your product, they stay hooked and convinced to buy your product. Indeed, it has become an effective tool in closing sales.

So as a business owner, how can you write your story in marketing your products?

When writing your story, it's better to go from the KNOWN (the problem) to the UNKNOWN (the solution - your product). And it will be better if the problem is one you have experienced before. But please note, if it's not something you have experienced before, lying in your storytelling is not advisable.

So, you can catch your audience with your story about how you felt when you had the issue. And then flow to how your product has helped you overcome and how it can help them overcome too. 

Let's give an example. Imagine you wrote a book for getting out of depression just after you got of of depression too. And of course, what is written in the book is a combination of all you did to get out of your depression. Your story will be an attention getter for your audience if you start from when you were battling with depression (relating with their problems) and then you move on to how to combat it (introducing your product)

With this format: Identifying with the issue, to introducing your product as a solution, your storytelling will flow, grabbing people's attention and keeping it intact till sales, you can be sure to sell out using your stories.

In the next post, we will talk about the Dos and Don'ts in Storytelling. See ya!

Getting into your Customer's Mind

Gosh! It’s been a long time I wrote, and it’s been bothering me. Yes, I can say I have my reasons for going off, which was fear and uncertainty (well, nobody is immune to it you know). Despite the fact, I would always convince myself every Friday of why I did not write/post. And today, I have decided to forgo it all, take my time, sit my myself down and write what comes to mind. All I know is I have overcome the reason I went AWOL and I am back. I am glad to be here for you and I promise to do my best with it. Kindly subscribe and tell your friends about Creatives’ Corner too. I look forward to having you all read what  I have to post about Creativity, Business and Creativity #smiles

So, this week, in a class that I have been attending, I learnt something and I will definitely love to share it with you. I learnt that being an entrepreneur is creativity. Why did my teacher say that? Well Entrepreneurship which is different from being a business owner involves a whole lot of thinking. As you are thinking about your product, you are thinking of your investors (if you have), you are thinking of your customers, you are thinking of your team members, you are thinking of the brand and of course you have to think about yourself too. And all these entities, must be satisfied by decisions you make. They must grow and not remain stagnant. That is a lot of creativity if you ask me.

Dear entrepreneur, out of all these entities that you have to think about, let’s focus on your customers in this post. Have you ever wondered about how to satisfy your customers? Or is it even a present challenge you are facing? Then let’s talk about getting into your customers’ minds. How exactly are you meant to do that? 

The first thing I will suggest is to spy on them. Do surveys, not the ones they will know about now, unknown surveys. If your product is meant to be going to or is in the market place already, go to the market place, watch them. Watch what they do, how they react to your product, what they complain about, what they love. In that way, you can be able to understand from their point of view as the user and make necessary adjustments. Don’t forget that for this survey, it’s without their knowledge, I suggest you go to the market disguised as a buyer. Of course, it can be a huge time investment, but it is a good one.

Another thing I will say is for you to carry out known surveys; video, physical or online. Remember the first is about doing the survey without their knowledge, this is with their knowledge. Ask for feedbacks! Let them tell you what they think about the product. Let them use it in your presence. Ask for what they would have preferred instead of this. Actually, this is always best done before you take your product to the market but it’s not too late to be done even after you take the products to the market.

In getting into your customers’ minds, you need to be understanding. You can’t afford to get these people’s feedbacks especially bad ones and flare up or get discouraged, always remember that it is for the better. Remember, they are the ones you are producing that service/product for. If they don’t buy, then you run out of business. And as Danni Friedland said in one of his posts that ‘You should aspire to create value for your customers by helping them get what they need’, therefore, they have to need and love what they buy or the service they get so that they can come back.

Let your customers see that you care about them, listen to them, understand them, ask questions and listen again. When they make calls in, let their experience be amazing, let them have that feeling of accepted, understood and valuable.

With these, you should be able to think like your customer and produce that exact thing they need which will definitely keep you in business.

Let’s do some entering into our customers’ minds this week. And don’t forget to tell me and the community all about it.

Thank you for reading! See you next week! Looking forward to hearing from you about your experience.