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When Stories Work Better Than Facts

Forget the head and go for the heart

The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
Fri, 01/11/2013 - 16:24
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Recently I was asked by the sales manager of a company if I could reach his staff with a message he had been trying to “beat into their heads for months” (his words, not mine).

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He wanted me to accomplish what he failed to do: inspire his sales people to spend more time pursuing smaller accounts. He said they were all good producers so he couldn’t threaten them with job loss, but the company depended on those smaller accounts because they made up the bulk of the business.

His sales staff only wanted to work with the larger accounts because they generated higher commissions. He said they complained that the small accounts took up too much time and were not worth it. The sales staff was cold to his logic.

To convince the sales team, I knew I needed to translate the company’s mission into human terms. I needed to come up with a story they could personally relate to. I did some research to find some good stories, and then I recalled a story of my own, one I hadn’t thought of since the 1980s when I worked as a wholesale apparel salesman. (Yes, I was a rag rep.)

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Comments

Submitted by dkhays on Wed, 01/16/2013 - 14:31

small customers

I am not, not have been a salesman, but it seems like that reating yoiur customers right would help them recommend you to someone in need of your services.  Word of mouth advertising does work.

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Submitted by umberto mario tunesi on Wed, 01/16/2013 - 21:05

"Storystics" or Statistics

Well said, Mr. Wilson, I congratulate. But - you see - we, modern, skeptical, cynical professionals, all consider stories as a childish matter. We much prefer hard, numerical facts; that are all but reliable, because they depend on the events used to deduce the numbers; so, in the end, they are a story themselves, too. Any Statistician provides "facts" to demonstrate what he or she wanted to demonstrate, since the beginning. Just like the salesmen of your column, they insist in demonstrating that they are right, they resist change. Manuel Ortega Gasset wrote that when one teaches, he has also to teach to doubt of his teachings - which looks quite a paradox, but the meaning is clear: nothing is absolute, we can oly steer our boat by sight - and heart. Thank you.

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