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In a job like marketing, your job is to keep things fun, engaging, and interesting. It's about creating the new and great product, the eye-catching and irresistible sales pitch that makes people buy, and then converting more sales than you can count.

Then why does it feel like sales pitches can be so … mundane?

Any marketer is going to get into trouble with their client at some point where everything becomes the same old thing. The new product, the sales pitch, the sale. Again and again. Until you are so little interested in your sales pitch that your customer is no longer interested in it either. Then sales will go down and you will no longer be surprised "Why are my customers no longer engaging with me?"

We are so caught up in our own routine that we think about our particular process and our own goals that we completely forget about the person we are supposed to help: the customer.

Depending on the size of your business, you can easily think of customers as numbers on a page. But they are real people, and just putting a product in front of their face will not make them buy. You need to understand who they are and why they are interested in your product in the first place.

You need a change of perspective to be truly successful …

You need to start thinking about your product through your customers' eyes, because then you can make a copy that will make it possible work every time. You have to go beyond selling a product – you have to write a story.

Stories have real effects on us – they are engaging, emotional, interesting, and unforgettable. There's a reason old stories have been passed down from generation to generation, and we remember our favorite books and films so well that they become fixtures in our minds. People connect with stories. But when was the last time you remembered a cookie cutter?

Using a narrative Your sales pitch isn't just about telling your customers what your product is doing. That's because, when done right, the narrative will revolve around your customer. Instead of selling the customer what the product can do for them, you should sell the customer what matters you can achieve with the product.

Remember, characters are the forces that advance a story … and your client is definitely the protagonist.

How to create a narrative

Learning how to create an effective narrative takes a whole book series, not a blog post. It takes a thoughtful process and a lot of creativity. Especially if you want to avoid stereotyped narration – you want to create something that is customizable.

Not just to the different products / services you sell, but also to the different customers you sell to. While there may be some similarities, every customer is different – the success story needs to be clearly captured (but don't worry, we won't tell you to write an entire novel for each new customer). .

However, to get to the point that you are a story seller instead of a storyteller, you need to start with the basics.

1. Understand your customer avatar

Before you can create the narrative arc for your client, you first need to understand who they are. They need to understand what they want, what problems they can face, their weak points, their goals, and everything in between. If you don't take the time to really understand your customer, you're inevitably going back to the old cookie cutter that previously fell flat.

Finding out the specifics of your customers can seem difficult, but luckily we have resources to help you fully understand your customer avatar. This includes a downloadable customer avatar worksheet that will help you identify your customer avatar as easily as possible. By completing this worksheet, you can answer any questions about your customers, from demographics to objections they may have about their purchase.

Once you understand your target audience and who you are selling to, you will be able to do step 2 much better.

2. Create your story

This is probably the most important part of the process, and it can be difficult to do effectively when trying out a narrative for the first time. But remember what we said before: characters are the forces that propel the story forward, and your client is the protagonist.

When creating the narrative arc, it is important that you end up with your client as your hero. The person who wins the gold medal. The one who will save the galaxy. If you remember that the ultimate goal is to make your customer the hero of the story, the rest of the story should fit.

If your client is the ultimate hero in history, what are you? You are the lead character and the mentor – the one who helps the main character transform into the hero they are meant to be. You are the Dumbledore for Harry Potter. The Yoda to Luke Skywalker. You are the one who equips the hero with what he needs to be successful. And your product is the lightsaber.

However, you need to make sure you get this right because too much emphasis is placed on what you When you can do this, the focus will be on who is important: your customer. People like stories about them, especially when they're good. While you play an important role, you don't want to overdo it in the context of the narrative.

3. Discuss the barriers in your path (and how your product addresses them)

As with any good story, your narrative needs to conflict, and depending on the product, industry, or clientele, it might not be that hard to find. If you've already been able to speak to your prospect or client, there's a good chance they've already shared their problems with you. However, if you did an in-depth study of who your customer is in Step 1, you were likely able to identify their vulnerabilities. Now you have to do these pain points painful evident.

Once you've laid out the obstacles, the fun part comes.

It's time to sell. You've done all of your framing and storytelling to get to this point: introducing your product. You should take advantage of all the ways your product helps your customer solve their problems and offer solutions that they would otherwise not be able to achieve without this product. If you did a good job creating the narrative, this part should be simple, efficient, and effective. In the end, your customer will understand what your product is capable of and how it can help them, and it will go much further than just bulleted them.

4. Paint the picture of success

As soon as you know what you can reach with Your Product, you then have to help them look into the future. It's a future where they can achieve their dreams, save more money, or do better for the planet (basically the opposite of their flaws. Once they imagine where they'll be when they use their product, they don't just leave In order to buy, they will also tell all their friends about it.

This is the bird's eye view of the process. There is a lot of work in between these steps to make the process really effective and again it would take a book instead of a blog post to explain it.

However, there is a resource available that can help you harness the power of a narrative and convert better than ever.

Donald Miller, the CEO and writer of StoryBrand, is a fundamental thought leader in selling with stories and has used that approach to create a successful company. He offers a workshop for anyone who wants to expand their sales game by mastering the art of storytelling. All you have to do is sign up. Now that you know the basic process, it can fill in the blanks, answer any questions, and really teach you how to use a narrative better than anyone.

Once you combine the power of stories and sales, the potential of your business is unleashed. All you have to do is learn how to do it.