Opinions expressed by The entrepreneur contributors are their own.
I run a digital marketing agency. If we’re able to track a customer’s revenue and tie it to the ads we run (an e-commerce customer, for example), we can tell them—down to the cent—how much they’re making for each dollars they spend on advertising. If this sounds like a numbers game… it is. But when I pitch clients, I don’t lead with numbers.
When I pitch a client, I don’t tell them we can generate $34.12 for every $1.00 they spend on advertising. Surprisingly, that’s not what seals the deal. Don’t get me wrong, numbers are important and I share numbers in every field I do, but they are not the most important thing. What matters more than the numbers, or any other details I can share, is whether or not I can tell a good story.
Frankly, the numbers annoyed customers. They are just a box to check. If I start talking too much about numbers, the client’s eyes will glaze over and I can see that what they’re trying to tell me is, “Yeah, yeah, the numbers are good enough, I see that, check the box, move on. now , tell me a story!” Not that they are looking for any story, they want a story they can identify with. They want a story that shows that my agency has worked with someone like them before and that we got great results. But that’s not all they want. Here are three elements your story should include to convince your customers they want to work with you:
Related: Use the power of storytelling to transform your business for the better
Story Element #1: A Hero
In his book, The hero with a thousand faces, author Joseph Campbell laid out what we all now call The Hero’s Journey. To put it simply, the hero is comfortably at home when suddenly there is a call to adventure. He leaves home, faces challenges, overcomes obstacles and returns home a changed person. This story is told over and over again in books and movies, by The Hobbit to Star Wars to Harry Potter.
However, while every story needs a hero, where many entrepreneurs go wrong is assuming that they or their company is the hero. As Donald Miller explains in his book Building a Brand Story“When we position our customer as the hero and ourselves as the guide, we will be recognized as a trusted resource to help them overcome their challenges.”
Your client is Bilbo Baggins, and you are Gandalf. You are Obi-wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker. You are Dumbledore and your client is Harry Potter.
This technique has helped at least one entrepreneur raise over $8 billion for her clients. “Most firms in our industry go into a meeting with a polished pitch that’s all, me, me, me,” says Stacy Havener, CEO of Havener Capital Partners, an agency that helps investment boutiques build, launch and raise funds. “We flip the script. When we help our clients raise money, we tell them to make their next hero.” Havener explained that in one case, the strategy resulted in a $10 million commitment after just a single initial meeting.
Related: 8 Tips to Help Bring Your Story to Life
Story Element #2: A challenge
There is no story more boring than, “We wanted to do XYZ, so we went to work and did it.” Where’s the excitement in that?!
Entrepreneurs are tempted to tell this kind of story because we don’t want to admit that we sometimes face challenges. We want the client to believe that if they work with us, everything will go smoothly, without a single hiccup. However, when we leave this important element out of our story, we’re not only hiding the truth, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot because we’re missing a huge opportunity to show the client something important about ourselves—that we know to overcome the challenges.
Juliana Garcia has helped business coaches generate millions in income by using her trademark technique, which she calls “Elegant Vulnerability®,” to share their challenges. “You don’t have to have the perfect story or hide the parts of your story that you’re embarrassed to share,” she says. “Your clients don’t need you to be perfect. When you share your challenges, you come across as a relatable human authority. This helps clients gain a deeper sense of trust, and they’re willing to pay you more. “
According to Garcia, there is an ideal relationship when you share your challenges. “Balance 50% relatable personal story and 50% business coaching to show you’re a true expert. High-paying clients come to you when they resonate with who you are and at the same time feel you’ll get results.”
This is the future of online storytelling. A reasonable customer expects there to be challenges, but they want to know that when you face one, you’ll figure it out quickly. There’s no better way to show a client that you’ll care about them, no matter what, than to tell them a story about when you overcame a big challenge.
Related: 5 Ways to Profit from Sharing Your War Story
Story Element #3: A lesson
What is the third element in crafting your winning entrepreneurial story? “Victory, of course!” I’m sorry no. Sharing how you faced a challenge and were victorious in overcoming it can be helpful, but it is far less important than talking about the lesson you learned from the challenge.
Have you ever heard someone ask, “What’s the moral of the story?” Someone who was famous for incorporating lessons into his stories was Aesop, a Greek slave born around 620 BC Some of Aesop’s most famous stories, known as Aesop’s fables, include The Fox and the Grapes, The Hare and the Tortoise, and The Goose and the Golden Egg. In each fable, Aesop included a lesson—something practical that the listener could easily learn and apply in their own lives.
Including a lesson in your story isn’t designed to teach your client a lesson they can apply so much as to show them that if something goes wrong while they’re working with you, you’re smart enough not not only to fix it, but also to make sure it never happens again. Ironically, by sharing your past challenges or mistakes, you build the client’s trust in you.
My business is very personal because I sell services to clients. You can sell products and never know your customers. Regardless, storytelling is vital to driving your growth because whether you’re working with clients or customers or selling services or products, people do business with businesses they know, like and trust. Nothing I’ve found helps people get to know you, like you, and develop trust in you more than telling stories that involve the customer as the hero, an exciting challenge, and a lesson learned from facing the challenge. Try incorporating this type of storytelling into your marketing and sales strategy and watch your customers rally around you.
