Authentic Stories
Do you have an authentic selling story?
If you can learn this principle, you’re going to be miles ahead of others who try to sell online. Your customers buy based on emotion and then justify that decision with logic. While you need strong background proof such as statistics and charts to hit the logical elements of your client’s minds, they make their core buying decision on the emotional connection you make with them.
Often the best way to make this emotional connection is through a story. Think about this for a moment. As soon as someone says to you, “Let me tell you a story…” you instantly perk up your ears to hear more. The conversation could be going down a different road, but the moment it becomes a story, people start listening.
The reason I refer to it as an authentic story is we’re not making up a story…we’re using a real story that shares the emotions we want to tap into in our target market.
Let me give you an example. Think about how Star Wars has become a part of culture. It’s just a story, yet it has connected with millions of people. It’s the story of a hero who is seeking to become who they truly are. In fact, think about a large number of the biggest grossing films of all time.
Many of them employ that same type of hero story. Spiderman, Lord of the Rings, Titanic, etc. It’s always someone who is counted out…a real nobody…that becomes a hero. Little Peter Parker who is ignored by everyone becomes Spiderman and saves the day. Rocky even followed the same underdog to hero story in multiple comebacks!
People love the underdog story. Someone starts out with everything against them and makes it big to become the hero. It’s a consistent winning story line. It’s beautiful if you have a story with this theme to tell.
That’s why every time I speak I tell my authentic background story. Before I started online I was more than $50,000 in debt as a college drop out. I worked deadend jobs like delivering newspapers, signing people up for credit cards in front of stores, and delivering pizzas for Little Caesars.
The turning point for me was finding out about the internet, and my wife telling me I could really do this way back in 1996. I went online and within a few months was full-time. Within 6 months started paying back my bills. By the end of two years I was out of debt. As I learned to market online, others started asking me how I did it. And I started teaching them around the country.
This led up to the life changing moment for others potential online entrepreneurs. At some of the conferences I spoke at I did a promotion to my email list. In one of these, in just 3 days I earned $96,250 in a promotion just to my own email list with no advertising expenses in front of a live audience. You can find dozens of online entrepreneurs successful today who remember that as a life changing moment for them.
You can see how this is a “rags to riches” story for me. It’s all true. And if I don’t tell it, it destroys the bond I can create with my audience. So I always tell the story even though I’m personally tired of it!
The question here is what’s your story?
It might not be anything like mine, but everyone has a story. What made you decide to become a coach? What was the turning point? What is the emotional reason behind this decision?
Often there’s a turning point…a time of choice…where you make your clear decision this is what I’m going to do. What was it? Why did it happen? And what does it mean for your clients?
- What specific event caused you to decide to create this product or business?
- Is there a specific instance with a customer or someone you’ve helped that has proven to you that you’ve made the right choice?
- How has your life changed since you’ve started helping people with _____ or how have you changed the lives of one of your customers?
- Have you ever had a painful wake up call that changed your life? If so, how does it relate to your customers?
- If we produced a short “movie” script for your business, what would it be about?
Related Entries:- Passion and Profits Part 3
- Does Your Audience Know You?
- Marketing is NOT a Dirty Word
- Emotional Marketing
- Integrity Marketing is About Loving Your Clients
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Terry, do you buy based on emotion and then justify your decision with logic?
Phil:
I don’t want to admit it, but the truth is yes, I do buy on emotion.
You know who is good with selling with stories?
Perry Marshall.
I have never seen a marketer that has as many stories to tell like Perry.
I love his stories.
Although I only buy when I want to buy. Does it mean I am wired?
Ever since I started to check out copywriting, I am even more immuned now. I just laugh when these writers try to sell me anything becasue I already know where the story is going.
Do I buy most of the time? No.
But I sure enjoy reading their posts.
Know who else is good at telling stories? Daniel Levis.
As always, I enjoy your posts.
God bless.
Ok, cool, thanks Terry.
To me, your frank reply is a good example of using authenticity to build an emotional connection.
You’re not placing yourself the seller outside of, above, beyond, or more clever than those you are hoping to do business with. Your theory regarding emotions and logic isn’t about “people”, “them”, “those guys over there”, “the prospect”, or “the buyer.”
With your honesty you’re saying, it’s about us. Something we have in common. A wink, a nod, a smile, a mutually shared acknowledgment that, hey, we’re all human, together. Creating these kinds of bonds is what the story telling is about, right?
Another step? How about we put our reason for telling the story out on the table too? Maybe something like…
“I’m going to tell you a personal story now, cause every time I do, listeners seem to pay attention and buy lots of stuff from me, and I sure do love to make money!”, said with a smiley at the end to bring the listener in to the game.
Too often it seems we sellers think we can hide our clever strategies in the subtext, and we wind up breaking the bond we’re hoping to create in the process.
I know I’ve done that, am still doing it, and would like to learn more about how to close the emotional divide between myself and those I’m hoping to connect with.
Now, let me tell you a little story.
Once upon a time, I started blowharding on this guys blog, got carried away, said too much, cause I think I’m so smart, felt kinda embarrassed about that, and so decided it’s time to give it a rest.
The end.
Although I am usually highly analytical in making a buying decision, i.e. to assess the cost and benefit of the product under consideration, it is undeniable that emotional connection plays an important role.
Usually it opens up a closed mind by connecting first with the emotion.
After going through all the analysis of WIIFM (What’s In It For Me), it is probably 80% done, but not complete yet.
Now, the story and the emotional connection plays a pivotal role here: It is like the No. 100th step that complete the whole process of making the buying decision.
Great article! Thanks Terry.
I believe each of us here all have a Aurhentic story to sell
Thanks for the tips Terry, they will be extremely helpful. I like your site, it contains really good info on very important topics in internet business.
[...] addition to your authentic story, you also need to create an elevator speech for your business. This term originally came from the [...]
The issue behind the intersection of story telling and authenticity is that on the Internet, we sometimes fail to show our humanness in all its glory. All of us have failures and when we can show that as the inverse of success through the power of storytelling.
Thanks for this. I love being around authentic people, even on the Internet.
Iyabo Asani
http://www.AuthenticChangeCoach.com
OH MY GOSH! Funny thing is I wrote a post on my blog today about keeping it real as a means of connecting with people. My friend and I always laugh as we read the stories of every single internet marketer who was down and out to their last dime, blah blah blah. And yes it maybe true, but we have all heard all before so many times you know.
But you can’t fight authentic. You are absolutely right! And yes an elevator speech is a must
the 2 second bite on what you do!
Ok I have to know how do you get your optin at the end of each post? I can’t imagine you copy and paste the code each time? Do tell?
Hi Pat:
The code appearing at the end to get you to opt-in only apears the first 3 times you visit. And it is automatically inserted using “What Would Seth Godin Do” free plugin.
Terry
Hi, I’m Isaac Yassar and I help people reaching success in self development, business, and blogging for free.
I learned from Terry
I agree with you, authentic stories seems to always increase people’s adrenaline. My spirit usually gets pumped by someone’s success story.