When social media started spilling over from communities of the technically obsessed into business in the middle of the last decade, there was an expression: “Tell, don’t sell.”
Apparently, it is becoming a forgotten pearl of wisdom.
We humans are lovers of simple stories, well told. We are wired to enjoy and remember stories. Storytelling goes all the way back to when our ancestors lived in caves.
After a great hunt, and the beast was dragged back to the tribe, a great feast would be held. After all the tribe’s members had gorged themselves, the hunters might be asked to relate their success to the others.
In the glow of the fire that warmed them, the hunters would used their limited array of grunts and gestures to talk of how they felled the beast. Perhaps one picked up a stick and drew a few sketches on the dirt of the cave floor.
But after that primitive narration, most everyone went to sleep. But perhaps one did not; one who was not the best hunter in the clan.
He or she might mix together some blood and berries, then draw pictures of the hunt of the cave wall.
This was the first recorded story. Unlike the grunts and gestures, it would endure for years—perhaps millennia. That sketch started a continuum of storytelling, one that now has moved from the cave wall into social media.
There are so many ways today that you can tell your story. You can grab a megaphone and shout at customers as they pass by. You can cover neighborhood doorsteps and windshields with paper or you can tell people the story of what you do in a way that shows your integrity and commitment to quality.
Lots of businesses and consultants today have chosen PowerPoint presentations to tell their company story. Sometimes these can be compelling, but often they are not. I have watched a business presenter spent three minutes on a slide. To the audience, it felt like 3,000 years had passed. Conversely, there are simple stories that were first told in about three minutes that have endured for 3,000 years.
Suppose you are a real estate professional. You can use social media to talk about the houses you are trying to sell. You can talk about why you do a better job than all the other agents around. Perhaps you can even offer special deals and incentives for people to do a transaction with you right now.
Or you can step back from the business of selling and focus on the pleasure of telling. Tell people what you did before real estate and what motivated you to enter the field. Tell them a story of a family the thought they would have to sell short, but through luck or a smart move, got the price they needed.
Talk about what it takes to become a broker or agent. Discuss neighborhoods and tell the story of why you think it’s a good place to raise kids or retire.
Be interesting and be credible. Talk about your community, your profession. Tell a story about another real estate agent in your community.
The possibilities are infinite. Our lives and our work make the best stories. Some of them endure far more than an incentive. Stories can build more loyalty than any discount program.
Step back and think of what you remember. Is it those three key points someone emphasized in a pitch? Or was it the fact that before the person in front of you started selling used cars, he was the star quarterback on your high school team and then he became a war hero in some far off place.
Who would you buy from? Whose social media posts would you read?
I thought so.
Source: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/why-telling-beats-selling
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