In fact, if you focus on just 4 things, there's no reason why anyone can't have a great marketing system up and running, doing what it is supposed to be doing in less than 30 days.

This video shares with you precisely how to do just that.

The second type is what I refer to as sales presentations. The goal here is to persuade the audience to do something. Although the room may be filled with attendees, it's likely that only a few are actually in a position to take action on what you're recommending. Thus, one of the challenges of these types of speeches is to make sure you persuade the decision makers without boring to tears the rest of the audience.

As with any speech you want to begin with the end in mind. What's the point you want to make or what action do you want the decision makers to take when you're done? This sounds rather obvious, but the reality is that many people start developing their speech by focusing on what do I want to say, rather than what do I want to the audience to do? That's a real and very important differentiation.

Once you have the goal of the speech in mind, the next part is develop a long tail story. A long tail story is simply one that has a number of components to it. The goal with this type of story is to engage the listener with the opening and move them through a series of steps so that at the end they are motivated to do what you want.

The chief failing of most presentations is that they simply bore the audience to tears. That's why you want to focus on stories rather than the dry and dull facts and figures. The good news is that creating the long-tail story isn't terribly difficult as long as you follow a formula. This formula has only a few parts to it, so it's not hard to construct.

I'll share with you next time how we hook the listener and get them engaged in what you're about to share.

Now, if you sell a tangible prodcut this may be relatively easy. Need tires? Go to Bob. 

But what if you sell services, especially high-value services that don't lend themselves to a 10-second elevator pitch?

That's when having a concise story that makes people want to learn more about you pays huge dividends. Remember, the goal of the first story is to get people to pay attention to you-don't try to fully explain what you do.

There's a big difference between those two things and you need to strike the right balance.

Want to learn more? Go HERE

Truth be told, there is a huge difference between telling a story to your friends, and communicating a unique sales story to prospects who will keep you in the front of their mind when they hear about opportunities that would be perfect for you. 

Which is one reason I hope  you'll consider joining me on May 17th and allow me to work with you to develop a series of great stories you can immediately use to sell without being "salesy", get more referrals and differentiate yourself from the competition.

More info HERE

If you are a member of a group or association who periodically seeks engaging, motivational and practical speakers, I hope you'll contact me (mark@GentleRainMarketing.com). Likewise, I hope you'll consider joining me on May 17th here in Atlanta for my one day program on Million Dollar Sales Stories: How Top Performers Sell. There's information HERE.

I think that telling stories is a bit like cooking. Most of us know the basics.

So why are only a few of us great chefs?

The key is that they understand how the ingredients fit together. They know when to add a "touch of this" and a "dash of that." There's a science to it, but there's also an art.

I'm not sure the art can be taught, but the science certainly can. I firmly believe anyone can master the art of of telling great sales stories and on May 17th I'd like to show you how.

Let me make you a great (and persuasive) story teller.

More here

However, as I dug into it and observed sales people in action, it became apparent that few were actually using stories. Why was their such a disconnect between something people said was a powerful tool, and actually using it?

What I concluded, after individual and focus group sessions, was that there were two issues at play. First, few people had stories prepared. The heat of the sales discussion is not the time to start creating them.

Secondly, (and this was the big one) there was a surprising level of uncomfortableness in using stories in a business context. Sure, they were comfortable using stories with family and friends, but in a situation in which hard money was at stake, a lot of doubt and uncertainty raised it's head.

All this underscores the importance of both having stories prepared in advance AND having a methodology for developing them.

Exclusively for those who want to sell more persuasively without being salesy

I was talking with the head of a major consulting firm about why more professionals don't use stories more effectively? We came up with 2 reasons.

First, most people don't have them prepared. As one might imagine, when you're in an intense negotiation or sales situation, that's not the time to try to develop a great story "on the fly".

Secondly, (and this initially was a bit of a surprise), many people are reluctant to use stories in a business discussion. While they're fine with using stories socially, they're less confident when the stakes are higher. "Will I bore my listener?" "Will I really make my point?" "Will this take too long?"

All of this underscores the need to have a system for creating great stories, and a key number of them prepared in advance. On May 17th I'm going to show you how to do just that. More HERE 

The two main variables have historically been links and content. They're both still important, but the emphasis is now heavily tilting towards content.

And not just any content.

Nope, unfortunately taking one article, blog post or twitter feed and just reposting it over and over again won't get you high in the rankings. In fact it may hurt you.

If you want to get highly ranked, the focus today is on Original Content. That's great news for those of you who are creating sales stories about the success of your clients, stories that address concerns and objections, and stories that communicate the values of your brand.

However, simply creating original content is only half the battle. I'd estimate that most everyone can write words that communicate a message. That's not difficult. But, the reality is that it's also not enough.

If you're in this game to win, you need stories that persuade and engage. That's the key to not only getting your site on the first page of Google, but also how to motivate people to take action. When you accomplish that, then you've got a stealth marketing system that gets you both visibility and high conversion percentages. 

Content is King.

Speaking of which, I'm opening the doors for an intimate seminar I'll be conducting here in Atlanta in May. The goal of it is to work with a small number of you on crafting your "Million Dollar Stories". If that sounds like something that might be of interest there's some information HERE.

Maybe I'll see you in Atlanta next month. That would be fun.

Talk soon

Mark