I feel like this is a cheat code to sales, but nobody seems to be doing it.

I have a good friend who is a master of NLP.

I was doing some work with him a few years ago, trying to get better on my calls and build connections.

He talked about stories, stories and stories.

I thought he meant I tell stories, use analogies, which he also taught me, but he was meaning to get the prospect telling stories.

You can imagine my blank stare, wondering how on earth I would do that.

Or why I would do that.

Fast forward a few years, I do it on every single call.

Without fail.

Why?

Because stories and memories have emotions attached to them.

Don’t believe me?

Think back to your first kiss.

Your first day at your dream job.

That one time you were publicly embarrassed and you wished you were a turtle so you could just pull your shell over your head and hide from the world.

If you think through those, play by play, you would feel something.

How do you do that in sales?

Let me give you 3 examples.

A Marriage Offer

You’ve unpacked what’s going on in their relationship.

You know he feels like his wife doesn’t respect him.

The kids have started doing the same.

When he gets home from work, he feels uncomfortable before he even walks in the door.

Ask him about the last time it happened.

What they said.

The looks they gave him.

What he did.

Then what happened.

What he said back.

How it was received.

He’s in that moment.

A Trading Offer

You’ve unpacked that he wants lower reward/higher risk.

Why does he wants lower risk?

He’s made some bad trades.

A few in a row.

Take me through the first one, what happened?

And then?

How much did you lose?

Did you have a stop loss in place?

Why didn’t it work?

What % of the portfolios was it?

How did you try and recover it?

The second trade where you lost, that was an attempt to recover it?

What happened?

And then what?

You lost another how many %?

Do it for the third one as well.

He’ll have to sit in that anxiety of losing each of those trades.

Feel that disappointment in himself again.

AKA - a whole heap of motivating emotions to make changes.

And also a very easy justification for the $20k ticket of your program in his mind.

Business Coaching

Let’s say they’re coming to you because they’re working 80 hour weeks.

They’re making good money, but they’ve got on the platinum handcuffs.

Why would they pay you $40k over 6 months to help them work less?

Peel back the layers, it could be because they don’t see their family anymore.

Their kids are growing up.

They get home after they go to bed and leave before they wake up.

They don’t get to play with them on weekends like they used to.

Ask them about the last time they played with their kids.

Where did you go?

What did you do?

How long were you there?

Where did you go next?

How long ago was that?

And you haven’t been able to since?

That person doesn’t buy from you to work less than 80 hours a week.

They buy because they want to emulate that feeling and spend time with their kids.

I know this sounds great in theory, but it’s been proven time and time again that stories have emotions attached.

The prospect will feel a level of connection with you that they likely haven’t felt in some time.

On your next call, peel back the layers and ask for stories and examples.

It’ll take a lot of practice, but it’s worth it.