Sales 101: What’s Story Got To Do With It? (And by “it,” I mean MONEY.)

Alright kiddies.

Last week I released my personal About Page Strategy in a free and easily accessible workbook. (It's here!) I like my workbooks like I like my first dates, don’t you?

Anyhoo, it occurred to me that you guys don’t just need to know how to talk about yourselves, but you need to know how to SELL yourselves. 

I know it’s a struggle, I know it’s hard. And I know that sometimes learning about sales psychology in theory doesn’t always make sense in real life.

There’s a good chance you already know the principles but you’re still not quite sure how to apply them. So let’s talk about that.

The trick to sales is (of course) convincing someone that you have the answer to their problem.

So when you write a sales page you’re really making a case for your product.

That means: it’s your fucking job to give your clients logical reasons to buy from you.  But in addition to that, you also have to toy with their emotions.

(It’s for their own good, I promise.)

RED ALERT: WE’RE TALKING ABOUT FEELINGS NOW!

You’ve already heard that buying is emotional and you KNOW it's true (from experience, or, in my case, lots of credit card debt).

But how do you use that knowledge to actually generate moneys, yo??

Let me tell you how: 

With STORY.

I’m gonna shift gears here to demonstrate this tool in action.

Think about a movie that you LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Now, think about your favorite scene in the movie, the one you most remember, the one that just won’t leave your mind EVER.

Chances are, you remember that scene because it made you feel a certain way.

And chances also are…. this scene occurs somewhere between minute 65 and 85.

The reason I know this is because ALL movies, even the good ones that surprise you, are formulaic.

And the formula exists to make you feel things when you feel things. It's called emotional orchestration and it's no accident.

Sorry for pulling the covers off of that one… We can go back to writing letters to Santa Clause in a moment.

But first, as someone who has devoted her entire adult life to the study of storytelling - I’m going to tell you all you need to know to orchestrate emotions like an Oscar winner.

Set up.

And pay off.

The end.

Just kidding. I’ll explain!

See, stories essentially have 3 components: set up, conflict, resolution.

But for selling - YOU only need to worry about the first and the last.

A story essentially is: the pursuit of a goal in spite of obstacles. 

Those obstacles create struggle, and struggle is what we identify with. Struggle is what your client will understand emotionally when you effectively write obstacles that resonate with where she is in her life.

So think for a moment about what those obstacles are and what that struggle is for your client.

What is their goal? What problem do THEY need to solve? What is their life NOW, before your product enters the picture.

THAT is your set up. 

Your pay off is how their life will change.

Your pay off is what life looks like once they’ve bought your product, hired you, implemented your strategies, taken your course or signed onto your membership site.

Your pay off is the achievement of the goal.

You know how you feel when you think Elle Woods is going to lose her cred because her creepy boss hits on her, but then she totally redeems herself by knowing her client soooooo much better than him?

A) That will totally BE YOU once you nail set up and pay off (What, like it’s hard?).

And B) That’s a perfect example of setting up a problem and paying it off. Problem? Elle is too girly to hack it in the legal world. Pay off? She’s even better than a sleazy male law firm partner. 

Your job in order to SELL your clients is to pull them through a transformation emotionally. 

To paint the picture of how much better things look on the other side of that “BUY” button.

All story is transformation, after all, just ask Joseph Campbell.

(Or ask me, in the comments. I’m pretty smaahht.) And if you need more help crafting a customized story for your business, we can help with that! Check out our services right here. 

xo

p.s. If you haven’t seen Legally Blonde, this is your homework!