Assemble a Story Archive so that every sales resource has top-of-mind access to successes they can use to close more deals.
While there are many “no-exceptions best practices” that we tell sales managers they need to instill in their organizations, institutionalizing a “Story Archive” is near the top of the list. Though simple in both concept and execution, this Story Archive exercise holds tremendous potential to empower the sales team. So, what is it? Imagine an Excel worksheet with six columns: Technology, Segment, Success Story, Location of the Success, Story Contributor, and Date Submitted. Keep in mind that each story should be a “sound bite” of 75 words or less (that shouldn’t take more than 15 seconds to verbalize) describing a success that was made possible by your product or service. In the context of an energy solution, the success could be calibrated in utility-cost financial savings, non-utility-cost financial savings, or non-financial savings. In fact, some of the most powerful Story Archive entries are ones that connect the dots between your energy solution and a totally unexpected positive outcome that your customer experienced in the wake of that project. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a well-visualized story is worth a thousand pictures. And arming your entire sales team with stories contributed by their peers will provide them with an arsenal of conversation-openers that they’ll use as they encounter prospects that look a lot like the ones your company has impressed in the past.
Tomorrow, we’ll share “Part 4” of our “7 Golden Tickets to Success in 2019” series.
