BoSUSA24 | Stephen Steers | Four Questions to Ask Before You Tell a Story That Sells

Differentiating your products or services is the key to scaling sales and becoming the dominant player in your market. But how do you do it? Storytelling, that’s how.

There are 4 fundamental questions that founders need to answer in order to tell a story that makes your company stand out, attracts an audience, and converts customers.

In this session, Stephen will cover the 4 questions you need to answer before telling a story, the 3 types of stories that you already have and where to deploy them in your business for results immediately.

1. 4 Questions to Ask Before you tell a Story That sells Using Storytelling to Create Context and Close Sales

2. Istanbul 2020 Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

3. Istanbul 2020 Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

4. What’s your ‘drop the brush’ moment?

5. Why Are We Here? Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

6. How do I stand out confidently? Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

7. How do I generate high quality leads? Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

8. How do I speed up my Sales cycle?… Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

9. How do I c reate a sales process that aligns with my values…

10. Business of Software USA 2024 | We are covering During this session we’ll cover… Why Tell Stories at All ? The Magnificent 7 Reasons Why People Buy The 4 Questions You Need to Answer Before Tell a Story that Sells 3 Types of Stories That Convert Tactical Storytelling

11. Hi, I’m Stephen Sales Consultant and Creator of Context Selling Led workshops for more than 100 0 companies from 35+ countries (Nike, Google, HEC Paris) WFU Graduate Author of Superpower Storytelling Once appeared in a Beyoncé Video Business of Software USA 2024 | About

12. Why tell stories at all?

13. When a story is recounted, the human brain releases cortisol, dopamine, and oxytocin, which help people retain knowledge and experience genuine empathy. Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

14. Stories can be recalled up to 22X better than facts alone. Jennifer Aaker, Stanford Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

15. Why is this important? Help you make better business decisions Humanizes your sales process  You become more memorable and differentiated Increases conversion rates Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

16. 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels by 2025 Gartner Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

17. Storytelling can boost conversion rates by 30%. - DSIM Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

18. The Magnificent 7 Reasons Why People Buy

19. An average of 7 people are involved in most buying decisions. [Gartner ] Business of Software USA 2024 | The Magnificent 7 Reasons Why People Buy

20. 50-90% of the [buyers] journey is complete before a buyer interacts with a sales rep. - Spotio Business of Software USA 2024 | Intro

21. Sell to solve the following business problems: Business of Software USA 2024 | The Magnificent 7 Reasons Why People Buy Save Money Increase Efficiency Make Money Mitigate Risk

22. Sell to solve the following stakeholder problems Wealth Relationships Health Business of Software USA 2024 | The Magnificent 7 Reasons Why People Buy

23. The Superpower Storytelling Framework 3 Audiences 3 Stories 4 Questions Achieve goals by applying the Superpower Storytelling Method to the 3 audiences your team will encounter. Unlock the 3 stories you need to lead Leverage the 4 questions you need to ask before you share a story that sells

24. The 3 Audiences

25. Your Prospects For example: Potential Clients (Phone) Investors Marketing Business of Software USA 2024 | The 3 Audiences

26. Your Team For example: Co-founders/ Co-workers Employees Vendors Business of Software USA 2024 | The 3 Audiences

27. Life/Stage For example: Keynoting/ Workshops/ Podcasts Answering the dreaded: “What do you do?” Being the most interesting person in the room. Business of Software USA 2024 | The 3 Audiences

28. The 4 Questions

29. What’s at stake? What hangs in the balance? Who will win? Who will lose? What happens if no action is taken? Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

30. Ai: AI will disrupt the software business… Am I ready? Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

31. What do your prospects want to learn or achieve?  What steps can they take for success? What should they avoid? What should they be thinking about? Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

32. AI: How to leverage AI to grow my software business? Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

33. How do you want your prospects to feel?  95% of our purchasing decisions take place subconsciously . Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

34. Those that don’t make the necessary changes will be left behind… Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

35. What do you want your prospects to do next?  65% of information is retained when shared through stories . Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

36. We have 3 slots for AI businesses readiness audits. We’ll benchmark your organization against your competition for AI adoption and build you a plan on how to increase your market share. Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

37. The 4 Questions What’s at stake? What does your prospect want to learn or achieve? What do you want them to feel? What do you want them to do next? Business of Software USA 2024 | The 4 Questions

38. The 3 Stories You Need to Lead

39. Mission Where’d you get started? What was the moment you knew that you had to share this message with the world? Where did one of your well known traits come from? Business of Software USA 2024 | The 3 Stories You Need to Lead

40. Vision What do you want to bring into the world? What does your mission look like when it’s completed? Who do you want to empower? Business of Software USA 2024 | The 3 Stories You Need to Lead

41. Milestones What are some of the MOST challenging things you been through in your life?  How did you overcome?  What did you learn? Business of Software USA 2024 | The 3 Stories You Need to Lead

42. Tactical Storytelling

43. Context Selling Business of Software USA 2024 | Tactical Storytelling Situations Systems Skills Which systems to leverage The specifics of selling Help us know which skills to train for Strategy Which strategies to use

44. Objection Handling 44% of sales deals fail due to objections Only 27% of salespeople are able to overcome objections effectively. Only 13% of customers believe a salesperson can understand their needs. Business of Software USA 2024 | Tactical Storytelling

45. 3 Objections

46. In sales calls: “It’s too expensive.” “Is this going to work for me? “Is now the right time?” Business of Software USA 2024 | Tactical Storytelling

47. The OCGC Model

48. Opening Business of Software USA 2024 | The OCGC Model The Kryptonite Question “What made you hop on the call with us today?“ An open book test Establish context immediately

49. Opening Business of Software USA 2024 | The OCGC Model Storytelling Opportunity Share an example of a client with similar needs. Preview your case study Transition into discovery

50. Closing Summarize You really want to X, but Y is holding you back. You've tried A & B, but haven't been able to make it work X is happening, which is hurting you with all the Y. Business of Software USA 2024 | The OCGC Model

51. Closing Storytelling Opportunity Dive into a client case study Give past example and present example Ask prospect “Would similar results help your business?” Business of Software USA 2024 | The OCGC Model

52. Business of Software USA 2024 | And now you know And now you know... Why Tell Stories at All ? The Magnificent 7 Reasons Why People Buy The 4 Questions You Need to Answer Before Tell a Story that Sells 3 Types of Stories That Convert Tactical Storytelling

53. Thank you Ways to get in touch