The Importance of Storytelling as Part of Any Sales Enablement Strategy

If you’re putting together a sales enablement strategy, you may already be covering your bases… but have you considered telling a story?

You’ve probably heard the term ‘brand storytelling’ doing the rounds at the moment. Telling authentic, genuine brand stories is a powerful way to connect with your audience – and it should be just as much a part of sales enablement as training, tech and customer-centric content.

As a Creative Technology Business, what we do is so intrinsically linked to sales enablement. We create interactive experiences and presentations that help our clients wow their customers, and win business when it really matters.

That’s why we’re going to tell you about one of the most powerful ways to get their attention, engage and connect with them; the art of good story telling in sales – and making it interactive!

What makes storytelling so powerful?

Authentic sales storytelling is no longer something that brands can simply ignore – and the art of storytelling itself goes far beyond just marketing and communications. It’s an important tool to anyone dealing directly with your customers and wanting to start meaningful conversations; in other words, your sales team.

Telling a story can help your customers engage with your brand – and telling it in a visual way will help them easily grasp your products, solutions or ideas and see their value, without them necessarily having to be given an in-depth explanation. It also makes you more memorable.

We’d even go so far as to say your customers expect a story, and they expect your sales reps to be the ones who deliver, engage and make that connection. So, it makes sense that storytelling should be an integral part of sales enablement.

Make your story an experience

Giving your customers a story – or even better, a visual story – is a great way to get them engaged, tap into their emotions and help them understand what you’re bringing to the table.

Telling it in an interactive way that puts them firmly in the driving seat is a whole different ballgame. For one, it’s a surefire way to keep their attention and get them actively engaging and participating in the story. And if you can make it fun and compelling, there’ll be no stopping you!

Did you know that interactive content generates twice as many conversions as passive content, according to Kapost (just one of the 7 statistics we’ve highlighted in this blog post)?

Another good thing about immersive experiences is that they allow you to be as creative as you like. It’s a real opportunity to differentiate yourself and help you stand out from the competition.

TIP: Need some inspiration? Check out these real-life examples of interactive touchscreen experiences.

Advice from the interactive sales storytelling pros

If you’re liking the idea of interactive storytelling as part of your sales enablement strategy, there are various different techniques you could try. One of our favourite methods here at POPcomms is called ‘a day in the life’.

This is basically a scenario where you replicate your customer’s world and illustrate how your products or solutions can make a difference to it. Perhaps they could enable them to gain a competitive advantage, like improving services, saving money, streamlining processes or opening up new markets.

Whatever your products or solutions can help your customers achieve, this is a great way to demonstrate that value.

But that’s not all; it also demonstrates that:

• You truly understand your audience’s business as you have illustrated their day-to-day operations
• You’ve put the audience squarely at the heart of your messaging, creating a uniquely personal experience for them rather than a generic presentation
• You’re moving on from being just product-based

Read more: Why the discovery phase is the most important element to developing a successful sales enablement tool

A real-life example

A great example of this would be the ‘day in the life’ scenario we created for our client, Isotrak, who were looking for a less product-focused way to deliver presentations – and make more of an impact.

Isotrak develops commercial vehicle tracking systems that are used by 90% of home delivery companies, such as Sainsbury’s. We wanted to communicate how they seamlessly integrate into their customers’ businesses and deliver vital business metrics and the many challenges they solved.

In order to do that, we illustrated the typical day of a delivery driver, the teams that support them and the business itself. We did this in a visual way that demonstrated Isotrak’s deep understanding of their customers’ businesses the challenges that they face on a daily basis.

We also demonstrated how with Isotrak’s systems, vital analytics could be obtained to open up opportunities to gain a competitive advantage. This helped Isotrak facilitate conversations based on the customers specific challenges and allowed them to further tailor their messaging using detailed, actionable information.

This helped Isotrak differentiate themselves from their competitors and stopped them being seen as just another product-focused company.

Combine story telling & sales for your brand

Sales enablement is all about making it as easy as possible for your sales team to have meaningful, profitable, consultative conversations with your ideal customers. And telling a story is often the best way to help those customers understand the value you’ll bring to a relationship in a relevant, engaging and visual way.

After all, it’s much more effective than just presenting them with static, content-heavy slides laden with bullet points! Put your customers front and centre – and in charge – with interactive sales storytelling, and you won’t go far wrong.

Want to know more about creating persuasive and engaging interactive presentations? Feel free to get in touch with us on 0117 329 1712 or by emailing hello@popcomms.com.