Sell with a Story

Another great Amacom sales book. He really goes into the detail on how to improve your stories. Any successful salesperson realizes the power of stories and this is the book you need to improve yours. Having the template to build from helps you get the maximum from this book . His examples are spot on. I recognize several issue I have dealt with in this book, including the VP of sales who steps all over your sale. Best advice – talk to your purchasing dept, so few sales guys do so. Salespeople and sales managers need this book in their quiver.

This was a great book which has helped me identify gaps in my story portfolio and build the stories that I have built.

I would recommend this book to not just every sales executive that I know, but also to everyone who has to influence others or spread their ideas...

This was a great book that helps create simple yet powerful stories to influence others or spread their ideas..

Well the strapline for this book - “How to capture attention, build trust, and close the sale” - was stunningly accurate and boy did this book capture this reviewer’s attention and sell itself very well indeed!

Essentially the central message of this book is to make your sales approaches story-based, forming a personal connection to the recipient. This is quite a different kind of sales book too; hyperbole and faux inspiration are eschewed in favour of really setting your mind on fire and getting you to think about what you may be doing and pushing you to want to change how you communicate.

The author helps you consider what story may be suitable for your sales needs before looking at how to develop and communicate it. Not everything will be plain sailing, there may be challenges, conflict and other problems and here you get counselling about overcoming these and moving forward in line with your original objectives. Of course, prospective customers are not stupid; they can often sense a false approach with a weak, unbelievable story. Credibility counts and whilst a strong, personal and honest story can help form a connection, a blatantly false, untrue story can turn-off the prospect too, often with life-long consequences. A range of real-world examples are added into the mix to show the reader how story-based selling works and how actual companies implement such an approach.

When you are ready to start weaving a story then this book is at hand with a template to get you going that you personalise and build upon. The reader is guided through all the steps necessary, such as how to identify a story and articulate it, as whilst it might sound obvious to an outsider, often you can be too involved to clearly see the wood for the trees! Of course, a lot of other information is provided to help you manage your sales processes. Some might be familiar, some less so, yet it never hurts to get a refresher as even the seasoned old pro can learn new tricks.

This book felt as it kept on giving. It was one of those books that you could just keep reading and reading and then you wonder where the evening went! This was a very engaging, inspirational and considerate book that was very more-ish! Suitable for both beginner and the experienced alike, it will get you thinking about how you communicate and thus by extension how you may try and sell things too. In fact, even if you are not directly involved in sales, this still can be a book worth considering as many interactions we have in life could be arguably selling something, whether it is an opinion, a wish or a desire. You could use this book in the day time to sell your company’s products and maybe at night to “sell” yourself to get a date or to get others “sold” on something you have to say…

Considering the book’s price, what a bargain!

Sell with a Story, written by Paul Smith and published by AMACOM Books. ISBN 9780814437117. YYYYY