- How to get your customers to do your selling through stories
- How to set up the perfect frame for any customer story that sells
- 3 powerful questions you must ask your happy customers
Wanna know the most powerful way to sell that your customers will love you for… without using a single, tired sales tactic?
Well, there are actually two ways.
The first way is through story.
To be clear, when I say story I don’t mean your favorite book or movie…although those are stories.
The dictionary’s definition of story are:
- An account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment, and
- An account of past events in someone’s life or in the evolution of something.
This means nearly everything we say is a story in one way or another.
Some are short… some long… but they’re all stories.
What’s a story without a picture-perfect frame?
The second way is framing. Framing is fancy for: “the way you position things in your mind.”
It’s the way we see and interpret our experiences in life…
…kind of like rose-colored glasses that give your life its unique meaning.
(Except, you get to choose the color of your glasses. Or even, change the colors from time to time. But that’s a story for a different day. Anyway, back to my story…)
How do frames work?
Imagine you broke your arm. How do you interpret it?
Usually, we frame “breaking your arm” as a bad thing.
But imagine that the rest of the story plays out this way…
Since you broke your arm, you skipped your vacation to the city.
That same city unexpectedly got slammed with a major tornado.
But you were safe and dry at home.
In that context, the broken arm was a blessing.
Make sense?
It’s all about the angle of perception.
Now that you understand the basics of stories and framing, what happens if you slam them together?
Suddenly, you have a handy tool for improving your marketing… aka, testimonials.
Testimonials are a strong form of social proof — one of Robert Cialdini’s seven main influence principles.
But I don’t want to read another lame, “Great product! Loved it.” on a sales page any more than you do.
So how do you make your testimonials special?
There is a core structure to creating persuasive testimonials that sell…
…and it all starts with letting your happy customer share their story in their own words… using your frame.
Here’s how it works:
- Ask the customer about the problem they were struggling with, before they found you. The more details the better! Testimonials are more compelling when they smack of daily life.
- Ask the customer about the outcome they got. This is the moment when they get on the scale and realize they’ve reached their weight loss goal. What an amazing feeling!
- Ask the customer what their life is like now. Did they maintain the weight? Did they get the job, or the girl, or go on the dream vacation as a result of reaching their goal?
This is powerful stuff.
When you let your customer share their story in their own words… (carefully guided by you, of course)… you show future customers what life might be like using your products or services, without having to toot your own horn.
(Which nobody likes, btw.)
Sounds simple? It is.
Stories and frames are two of the most natural and powerful ways to communicate.
We use them all the time, in real life. So why not use them in your marketing?
What to do now: If you’d like to know more about how a former 9th grade Algebra teacher helps multi-million-dollar businesses increase sales with simple “teach for action” techniques, then go to www.9BuyerSystem.com
