Do you hate selling?
Does the idea of selling your services make you want to run away?
You’re not alone. The idea of selling makes many of us feel queasy. We get restless. We fidget. We wish that there was a way to make a living without having to sell.
What if a writing technique existed that could do the selling for you? A technique that doesn’t make you feel pushy?
Today, you can learn how to tell a business story so you don’t have to sell. And you might think that storytelling requires a special talent, and that it’s not for you.
I used to think exactly the same.
The books I read about storytelling left me disoriented and befuddled. Heroes? Drama? A plot? The protagonist? The mentor? Story arcs?
How does that apply to my business?
But by studying business stories on websites, I learned that business stories can be so simple that every business owner can tell them.
Want to know more?
Why stories are great selling tools
Ever been so engrossed in a story that you couldn’t put a book down?
You know it’s past midnight, and you have to get up early, but you crave knowing what happens next … and next … and next.
Stories are spellbinding and persuasive because the reader experiences a different world. Jeremy Dean explains that when we’re engrossed in this different world, our barriers to sales messages go down because the messages slip under the radar. We don’t notice we’re sold something because we’re engaged in the story.
The use of stories to sell is nothing new. Legendary copywriter Joe Sugarman suggested that readers should feel compelled to read your ad as if they’re sliding down a slippery slide. And to create this slippery slide, he often starts his copy with a story:
People love stories, and one of the really good ways to relate to your prospect is to tell a story. (…) a story can be invaluable and creates an emotional relationship of bond that keeps your prospect riveted and listening.
Business stories have a purpose
We don’t narrate stories to entertain our readers only.
Our stories explain what we can do for our customers and why they should choose us. Our stories breathe life into our work, so people can imagine what it’s like to work with us.
And to do this, you only need to know how to tell a short 3-act story:
- Describe a problem
- Explain the breakthrough
- Tell how it feels to have the problem resolved
Shall I show how?
The business founding story
What made you start your business? Which problem did you intend to solve?
This type of story works because readers identify with the problem your business tries to solve.
Here’s an example from mattress retailer Tufts and Needle:
At work the next day, he shared his story with Daehee. The two friends from college had been working together at a company in Palo Alto, and unsurprisingly had similar experiences. There was work to be done.
We believe that business can be honest and premium products don’t need remote controls and payment plans. Especially not mattresses.
We’re based in Arizona and California. Each team member sleeps on a Tuft & Needle and we’re committed to crafting a refreshing sleep experience that you’ll love.
How the 3 acts work in this business story:
- Act 1: The problem is the difficulty of shopping for a mattress. Who can’t identify with the frustration of pushy salesmen selling the wrong product and then being confronted with an impossible return policy?
- Act 2: The breakthrough: JR and his mate Daehee decide to set up a company where business is honest.
- Act 3: The current situation shows the transformation: They craft refreshing sleep experiences and sell their mattresses without tricking shoppers.
The personal business story
Have you struggled with the same problems your customers are struggling with?
Tell your personal story to bond with your readers and establish your credibility. Here’s an example from Samar Owais (her target audience is beginning freelance writers):
It took me two years of hard knocks, stupid mistakes and finger breaking hard work before I realized that my freelancing wasn’t a hobby—it was a business! [notice a recurring theme here?]
Once I realized I needed to treat my freelancing as a business, I made the mental shift from “Oh, it’s just this thing I do.” to “Holy crap, I run my own business!”
Things started to fall in place from there. I began to value the hard work I was doing and was no longer embarrassed by charging more money.
It still took me a long time and some pretty serious investment in my education as a writer and business owner (check out my freelance business resources page to find out which ebooks I read and what courses I took) before I reached a point where I was happy with my rates.
In case you’re wondering, I now charge in triple digits for a single blog post – which forms a bulk of my writing work.
How the 3 acts work in this business story:
- Act 1: The problem is getting paid a measly $5 for 500 words as freelance writer. This is a frustration many beginning freelancers can identify with.
- Act 2: The breakthrough: The realization that she has to treat her freelancing as a business.
- Act 3: The current situation: She’s now happy with her rates.
The story-based testimonial
Nobody believes sugary testimonials praising your skills and your character as if you’re flawless.
But who doesn’t want to read a good story about how you changed someone’s life?
Here’s an example of a story-based testimonial for my blogging course:
The course taught me how to attract customers with enchanting headlines (yes, for a rather dull industry). It helped me engage readers with a hypnotic flow, and promote our products using fascinating stories. (…)
And the cost?
I’d say relatively cheap. For the price of a magazine advert, the course showed me how to create a blog to attract customers. I learned how to generate endless ideas for guides and blog posts. This means our marketing and promotion will never run dry.
Potential customers now come to us for information and advice. This lifts us above our bigger (but duller) competitors.
How the 3 acts work in this business story:
- Act 1: The problem is boring blog posts—an issue that many business bloggers are struggling with.
- Act 2: The breakthrough: For the price of a magazine advert, he learned how to write engaging blog posts
- Act 3: The current situation: Customers are finding the site because they’re looking for advice, and the company’s web presence now looks more attractive than their duller and bigger competitors.
Tell your enthralling business story
Let’s forget about complicated storytelling techniques, and start with the foundation of stories that sell:
Tell a story your customers want to hear.
Remember, customers don’t want to buy your products. They don’t want to hire you.
Instead, customers want to reduce stress, be more confident, happier or healthier. And this is exactly why these simple stories are so powerful.
Because these business stories bring the customer’s transformation alive. These stories show how you change people’s lives and take their problems away.
Good business stories don’t sell your service. They sell happiness.
And who’s not looking for that?
PS
Thank you to Winston at the Thinker Academy who inspired this post.
Recommended reading on business storytelling:
Inspire your audience with your business mission
7 storytelling techniques to captivate a business audience
Storytelling: a brief guide to magical marketing
Henneke,
I can’t help but leave a comment. (I’m usually too lazy to do so)
I have been reading posts after posts. I can’t stop myself. Your posts are so addictive. I can’t wait to start my own writing.
Love the simple steps and examples (of so many random industries and situations)
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, Ling. Your comment put a smile on my face 🙂
Happy writing!
I think the 3 act business story works fine for a simple product value proposition, but not for organisations. If you look again at the samar owais story above, you’ll see it’s more complex than that and more effective for it.
There is a really good explanation of this in Into The Woods by John Yorke.
Of course, there are many variations on the 3-act story. Yet, the three acts are often the starting point, especially for people who feel overwhelmed by storytelling. I like starting with the basics.
Hi Henneke,
So true, telling a story is one of effective way in selling. It’s important share a story not because of any reason but because you have to connect with your audience.
Yep, stories connect.
For business purposes, I’d recommend to tell stories with a purpose so you can do more than simply connect; you can support your marketing and sales efforts.
Hi Henneke,
I’m from Malaysia 🙂
I’m using these 7 sentences as my guide when writing stories:
“Once upon a time …” – to show things happening in the past
“And every day …” – to show normal situation
“Then one day …” – problem arise
“Because of this …” – effect of the problem
“Because of this …” – emphasise more on the effect of the problem
“Until Finally … “ – what solved the problem
“And ever since that day …” – the outcome of solving the problem
These quite similar to your 3 acts.
I didn’t come with this… I read it somewhere, but can’t remember. Being using these 7 sentences guide since.
Hope this can benefit others too 🙂
Yes, it’s quite similar. Thank you for adding this!
Hi Henneke,
Me again. I just wanted to let you know that I went back over your post again and again and made myself a page of notes. I want to sell happiness to people, and now I have a much better idea of how to do it.
Thanks Henneke. Your work is priceless.
Henneke,
I love reading your stuff, and I must admit I’ve been “too busy,” to keep up with all of them (although I do save them all). I happened to read this one, and I’m glad I did. Breaking the parts into three pieces makes “selling” something (especially yourself) so much easier. Describing the problem in story form doesn’t just stick a feature in a buyer’s face. The breakthrough gives the reader an emotional connection, and the current situation justifies the buy in the buyer’s mind. Or am I completely wrong in how I interpreted it? I guess I’m still hazy.
Are you telling me you’ve been ignoring me recently? 😉
You’re right with your interpretation. Stating the problem in the first section helps establish the emotional connection with the reader, because he’s experiencing the same frustrations. Then the breakthrough nudges him to think it can be solved, and the current situation gets him excited about buying from you.
Hi Henneke,
As usual you are spot on again with this simple and effective recipe. It shows that simplicity and focus combined is a winning concept. When producing websites I always refer back to you way thinking regarding marketing.
Bedankt Henneke!
Hartelijke groet,
Christian
Hey Christian, that’s great to hear! And a good point – focus and simplicity go hand in hand, you must have both.
Thank you for stopping by 🙂
Hi Henneke
A very refreshing breakdown of storytelling into a 3 part act:
1. Describe a problem
2. Explain the breakthrough
3. Tell how it feels to have the problem resolved.
Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey simplified – great stuff 😉
By the way, how’s the weather?
Kind regards
Mark
It’s still beautiful weather. I’m afraid to jinx it, but October seems to have had more sunshine than our summer months 😉
And yep, why use 12 stages when 3 are enough?
Henneke, ourlife is a continual story full of unexpected surprises. I have to many stories to tell. And I had done that because I am a writer by instincts. To condense the stories and apply it to the theme our blog is a humongoes job! But should be fun.
I agree with you 100%, stories grab attention. Also I am a reader of autobiographies. Because I am always curious to know how other people conduct their life.
Thanks teacher! You are the best condenser!
Yep, I love to condense information until I find the essence 🙂
Thank you, Aida!
Thank you for this simple, but valuable suggestion. This “tell a story” concept seems to be recurring theme in many areas of my life lately – I think I should pay attention!
Yep, people want to hear your stories, Rich 🙂
Very inspiring, Henneke. I love the 3-act approach to communication in general, whether selling, copywriting, or blogging. Everyone needs help with something and if you’re able to identify the problem to begin with, you’re halfway there.
Yep, I use it often in training videos, too. When I get stuck with writing or creating video script, then I go back to the 3 acts, and it always gets me unstuck.
Thank you for stopping by again!
Really appreciate how you de-mystified the ‘how to write a story’. The 1-2-3 step is simple and yet so powerful because it’s clear and gets to the heart of the story.
Thank you, Fiona. I like keeping things simple 😉
I invented a Story Sheet to help marketing create stories. I love your message “Business stories have a purpose”. I see three challenges in getting there: technique, teamwork, and time. Writing business purpose stories could use a consistent, guided template so everyone can design with a common understand and approach. Teamwork is key as you create themes, ideas, scenes, acts you’ll need to collaborate. Time is key to having enough for creativity, vetting, and sharing and scaling. I see business stories as the future template for marketing. Thanks for your engaging post!
Yes, sure, there’s a difference in the creation process whether you’re working for a large company or running a one-person business. The outcome – the three-act storyline works for both. 🙂
WHEEEEEEeeee! That’s me sliding down your post’s slippery slide on storytelling for business. This post REALLY resonated with me.
Human beings love stories – especially when leveraging the magic of the number 3. Think Father, Son and Holy Spirt; Three Kings; hot pepper, onion, fresh thyme (one of many holy trinities in Caribbean cooking 🙂 In theatre – famous 3 act format and in comedy 3 key phases
The Rule of Three helps create spellbinding storytelling. It transcends culture, nationality, business discipline. Thanks for sharing this Enchanting writing tip.
Yessss, the power of three! I’m not sure why this number is so magical …
The Caribbean cooking sounds good. You’re making me hungry 😉
So simple!
You really had me at the point about how easy it is to write these short stories. A writer “friend” recently put me down about how I just should not be writing fiction. Well, funny thing is that I don’t write fiction. However, a story is a story, whether it’s true or imagined, and I do tell stories all the time. And folks love them, but they don’t know that. They just know they enjoy coming to my site.
I assume this post of yours is about telling a story on the landing page, or the about page. I never thought of that but will change my ways immediately. Thanks for telling me I not only CAN but also SHOULD write stories.
Hee hee.
Yep, keep writing stories. Stories aren’t only for fiction!
And yep, these business stories can be used on landing pages or About pages or company brochures or sales emails. Probably more often than most people think 🙂
Hi Henneke,
Wise words as always 🙂
Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away with HD video and ‘awesome’ graphics that we forget the most fundamental thing about human communication – We are story consuming animals…
Long before we have streaming video and instant chat clients, we sat around sharing stories – remember those days, pre broadband 🙂
So evolution had hard wired us to ‘respond’ to stories in profound ways.
And if we can make the listener/reader the focus of the story – About their struggle and ultimate success, then the message will have even greater impact.
Thanks Henneke for reminding us of the easily forgotten art of storytelling and how to do it.
Steve
Yep, so true. We think the world has changed, but the basics have remained the same through the centuries.
By the way, you can use exactly the same 3-act structure for videos, too. Also useful for explainer / training videos.
Great point Henneke…
In fact most of our communication with prospects/customers can be structured in this manner.
After all, all we ever aim to do is offer solutions to problems.
So much more effective than ‘buy our widget because it’s the best’… 🙂
Steve
Yeah, the deep literary techniques can make your head spin. Excellent point to focus on what you’re trying to accomplish, and use a simple story structure that entices the reader to imagine the change. Like the way you’ve captured the essence with the 3-act approach. Nice!
Yep, no need to write experimental literature to sell our products and services 😉
Thank you, Winston (for commenting and for nudging me to write about this).
Henneke, you’re not the first to give this advice, but you may be the first to make it easy to follow.
It’s posts like these that I save and come back to later when I’m struggling with a piece of writing. And not being a writer by trade, I need all the help I can get.
Many thanks!
Jon
Thank you, Jon. I’m a big fan of simplicity. But you knew that already 😉
Hello Henneke,
Do I need to say I began writing stories because of you? I guess not. 😀
I now include stories; short and resonating, with my audience.
My posts are now engaging and readers can identify my posts without my logo. All due to my story writing (dont know if they remember themof love or hatred ).
Thanks for todays tips too.
Have a great week ahead! 🙂
-Swadhin
Thank you, Swadhin. It’s lovely to hear that you’re benefiting from my tips 🙂
And you know what Henneke, I cannever thank you enough for this… this might be embarrasing but I have to say, you teach like a mother!
What tips go in, never come out of the head in a lifetime 🙂
I am a little plant, looking up for the tender rain water, warm sun light and cool moon light.
I tried to save myself by searching and finding ground water through my slender roots and then getting the warmth through the breezy air.
Gradually I realized and got showered with the occasional rains every tuesday’s and then felt the warmth and coolness simultaneously through the mailers from Henneke.
I, as a little plant (aspiring writer) getting all the love and guidance from the irreverent copywriter and marketer.
Now, I am a little grown, in terms of writing (thanks to you Henneke)
Please keep showering wisdom to this little plants.
With love,
Singaravelu A.P
Yep, I’m doing my best to feedb my blog a little every week! Never too much, never too little.
🙂
Hello Henneke,
Very interesting article, storytelling is the basis of any kind of selling. This reminded me of the TED Talk by Simon Sinek. Simon explains that the “WHY” you do it part is the most important one, and that’s the essence of your article. Those three steps are quite accurate in my opinion, thank you for making it easy!
Yep, that’s a good point. I like it. The “WHY” should be about how you make the world a better place, how you help change people’s lives – no matter how tiny or big these change are.
Thank you, Virginia!