Strategic Discipline Blog

How do you get your message to your audience in a fashion that impacts and results in converting them to customers?

3X Emmy-Award Winning Director and Producer Nick Nanton suggest Story Selling. 

Nanton started his presentation by sharing his story in video.  You can watch this short 2 minute 25 second video on his beliefs on story-selling.

Nanton suggest using the business trifecta, explaining the more you establish yourself as a noted and reputable expert before you attempt a direct sale of your product or service, the more chance you have at making that sale. You’re creating the kind of invaluable and positive buzz that makes your prospects:

Nanton’s Business Trifecta is:

•          Aware of who you are,
•          Aware of what you do, and
•          Aware that you’re very good at what you do.

Small to mid-size businesses are not able to mimic what other large successful businesses do.  Why, because they simply don’t have the resources to compete on that stage.

Aware of who you are is all about positioning.  You need to become the expert at something.  The deeper your niche the easier it is to become an expert, simply because there is less competition.

Positioning is putting a wrapper around what you do.  You need to be congruent to the market you are serving.  Everything you do, slogans, brand statements, collateral material and resources should have the same look and feel.  Don’t overlook the simple stuff.  He’s gone to putting his picture on the back of his business card. 

Aware of what you do is about credibility.  A book builds credibility yet, tweeting, blogging, etc., all do the same thing.  Provide your customers and prospects with products and information.  A suggestion he made is to look at the top ten things you’re being asked on a daily basis.  Record and transcribe this and provide it to your customers and prospects. 

Why story sell?  Think of great stories.  Whether it’s Star Wars or Snow White, these stories stand the test of time.  Stories involve us.  A good story releases oxytocin which is sometimes referred to as the "bonding hormone". There is evidence that oxytocin promotes ethnocentric behavior, incorporating the trust and empathy of in-groups with their suspicion and rejection of outsiders.  Nanton noted that stories also engage the logical side of the brain, the side that decides what’s real and what’s not.

How do you story sell?

Nanton offered 4 Basic Plots for Story Selling:

1.     Overcoming the Monster.  What’s the monster you overcame?  A story portrays a battle, giving people hope.  What do your customers fear, make the story about them and how you can help them conquer their fears?
2.     Rags to Riches.  This type of story is designed to create a chemical bond with people.  It helps reveal the human side of you.  One Wealth Advisor Nick worked with had a workshop that he was unable to make due to an emergency.  Instead of canceling it they played his longer version of his story to his audience who attended.  Instead of losing the customers who attended he discovered he actually had the same closing rate had he been spoken in person.
3.     The Quest.  This is similar to Indiana Jones or possibly the Mission Impossible movies.  Nanton offered Dr. Peter Diamandis Chairman and CEO of XPRIZE as an example.   XPrize leads the world in designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Best known for the $10 million Ansari XPRIZE for private spaceflight and the $10 million Progressive Automotive XPRIZE for 100 mile-per-gallon equivalent cars, XPRIZE is now launching prizes in Exploration, Life Sciences, Energy, and Education.  Quests are compelling. What’s your quest?
4.     Rebirth.  Examples of these in movies would be Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens Christmas Carol, or Disney’s the Lion King.  Here the main character overcomes a tragedy in a way that inspires others.  Often Nanton noted he constructs these through a series of interviews.  When you dig from the heart, the further you dig the more quality you get. 

The four plot themes Nanton notes make our love hormones beat faster. 

What triggers a sale?  People buy based on their emotions.  People buy from people they like. 

What you reward is what your culture promotes.  We’ll look Mary Kay’s rewards and culture next blog. 

Once again here’s Verne’s interview with Nick Nanton at the Leadership Summit.