How Storytelling Helps You Get More Clients Faster

A few years back, I was at a local business networking event. A guy came to me and introduced himself. Let's call him David.

David was a marketing strategy consultant. A purpose driven gentleman. He was looking like George Clooney from the movie Up In The Air that day.

He said he heard my name from one of my clients. And we started talking.  

He explained his situation, “I've given 18 presentations in the last 3 months and still got no clients. I have a presentation this Thursday morning and this deal is really important for me. Otherwise I’ll have to fire some of my oldest employees this month as I no longer afford to pay their salaries. Can you help me win this thing, Abhishek?” 

I said, “Off-course. Send me the presentation. Let me have a look.”

The presentation was beautifully designed. I loved the colour palette with all blues with little bit of orange and yellow. 

But that was it. Apart from the design there was nothing captivating there. The entire presentation was full of stock photos, charts and vague messaging that made a little to no sense at all. 

(I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen those same stock photos in so many presentation slides and website homepages.)

The wishful messaging with weak language was literally screaming: Hire meeeeeee. I'm differentttttt.

I pointed that out.  

He insisted, “I want to emphasize on being different to stand out from the competition. All that data and research is our USP. I can’t remove that”.

I knew I had to put some extra efforts there. 

So I asked him to do this…

“Take a deep breath, Dave. Now imagine you are standing on a cattle farm. In front of you is a herd of cattle. All the cows and bulls in the herd are grazing together, moving together and displaying similar predictable behaviour. 

Each bull thinks of himself as a different. But for the farmer they are all the same. 

Why? Because they have a similar predictable behaviour.

And because the farmer has so many bulls, it becomes hard for him to differentiate. So for easier identification he puts an ear tag on every bull with a number on it.

That’s what happens to you when you act like a bull in the herd. 

Your clients receive so many presentations everyday from similar bulls in your herd(your target market), they cannot differentiate you from others. 

That’s why you are not closing any deals despite reaching a lot of potential clients and having quality services to offer. 

David took a loooong dramatic pause.

“If I'm not supposed to act like a bull, then what am I supposed to act like?”

“That’s the best part…” I got excited to tell the next part of the story.

“In every herd, there is only one leader that always stands out: a herding dog. (mostly border collie). 

The job of the herding dog is to guard, manage and lead the herd successfully.

That dog doesn't have to prove to us that he is different because he is the dog. We know it because we see him in action- managing, protecting and leading the herd. 

We see other animals in the herd too, even other dogs. But this particular dog stands out as the leader because his actions set him apart. 

That's what you are supposed to act like.

Telling your clients you are different with all that data, stock photos and vague messages is not going to help at all. That’s what other bulls are doing in your herd.

So instead of telling you are different, show them HOW you are different with your actions- like that herding dog. 

How to do that?

Use storytelling in your presentation along with that factual data. Make your target audience remember you distinctly with a clear message. Transport them to a different place and make them feel the connection.

That’s how you get the clients to respond to your ads and offers.”

David was impressed. He asked me to write a brand new ad and presentation for him.

I prepared the whole script and sent it to him. Next week on Thursday, around 11:30 AM, he called me and said, "Thank you Abs, it worked. I got the contract."

Saw the difference?

Just before the week, he had no clients despite giving presentations to hundreds of people and after I wrote the story for him he closed the deal with just 1 presentation. 

That’s the power of storytelling.

Use this power in your herd. Stop acting like a bull. Act like a herding dog!

***

What you just read above is my ‘Customer Success Story’. As a business owner, you must have such story (NOT fake. Came from a real client's experience) ready with you all the time to share it with your potential clients. 

Because just like I told David, your potential clients receive so many proposals everyday and they consume so many ads and content everyday, it’s hard for them to notice you.

Stories help you do that. They not only grab their attention, they make your clients remember you and your business offerings.

That’s why marketing experts across the globe are saying that the future of business communication is storytelling.

If you want to succeed, you MUST tell stories. And that's what I help you with.

As a copywriter, I write such stories for you and if you want to write it on your own I teach you how to write them. For more details, contact me