Think storytelling is just for marketers? Think again. The best sales reps and solution engineers know that a killer story isn’t about fluff—it’s about making complex solutions click instantly. Done right, it grabs attention, builds urgency, and makes buyers see themselves winning with your product.
Before Rew Dickinson, CEO of Alpha Presales, started training reps on being compelling storytellers, he would give overly technical answers that took ten minutes to get through. He assumed buyers wanted every detail, every feature, and every spec.
But he’s learned since then. In a webinar he did with us, Rew explained how storytelling and brevity are what buyers actually want when listening to your presentation. And research backs this up. According to a Stanford study, people remember stories 22 times more than facts alone. And Gartner research also shows that buyers who engage emotionally are 2.5 times more likely to make a purchase.
The implications are clear: Stories create emotion, and emotion drives decisions.
So, how can you use better storytelling in your sales process? Let’s dive in.
Take Buyers on a Journey
Your story has to take the customer on a journey. You take them from where they currently are (in the middle of an incredibly frustrating sales cycle) to where they want to be—the purchase of fantastic software that solves their pain points.
The best way to do this is to draw the customer in with details that make them feel like they’re there.
Here’s the picture Rew drew:
You’re outside, spending time with family and friends. The sun is baking down on you. You don’t know for sure, but it feels like 90 degrees.
You’re running around playing games, and you’re sweating. You’re starting to feel that sweat bead up on your arms.
You’re also starting to get thirsty. You’re parched; you’re starting to sweat even more. You’re getting a little sticky.
The heat gets to be too much, so you walk inside. One of your friends is in there, and they hand you a glass of ice cubes and a Coca-Cola.
You crack open that Coca-Cola, pour it into the ice, let the fizz die down, and then take a sip.
You could probably feel the heat and taste the soda. That’s the power of a well-crafted story.
The Two Essential Parts of Any Sales Story
The story you tell your customers will obviously be different than the one above and will have fewer beverages and more technical aspects. But that’s precisely why you need a story to bring customers in.
No matter what you’re selling, every story you tell customers needs two parts:
- A Character – This could be the buyer you’re talking to or an existing customer who was in a similar situation. Either way, the current buyer needs to relate to the main character.
- A Journey – This is where you take the customer from their status quo (where they feel the full weight of their current problem) to their future state (where they experience the relief of your solution).
Tailoring Your Message for Maximum Impact
For B2B sales, your story must fit the persona of your audience. If you’re talking to an executive, focus on business outcomes and ROI. If you’re talking to a technical buyer, focus on ease of use and efficiency.
And you have to do it with clarity. No one wants to sit through a long-winded story, no matter how informative it is, if it doesn’t apply to what they care about.
To borrow another example from Rew, let’s say you’re trying to sell CRM technology. You’ve entered the portion of the presentation about updating information in your system.
Do you:
- List out all the ways the buyer can enter data, the features that streamline these tasks, and ask for questions.
- Describe the late nights other customers experienced updating their CRM before they bought your solution and how much time they get back now that they have access.
B is clearly the way to go.
Not only do your potential buyers resonate with those late nights updating tedious systems, but they can see the benefits other customers have from buying from you.
Framing your presentation as a story shows the problems of their current situation, leads them to the relief they can expect from your solution, and slips in some social proof as well.
What If You Don’t Have a Perfect Use Case?
You might be thinking, “I don’t have a customer story that fits this exact buyer.” That’s okay! You can still tell a compelling story. Just make the buyer the main character.
Instead of saying: “Our solution streamlines your workflow, reducing manual effort by 40%.”
Try: “Imagine it’s 6 PM, and you’re still at your desk, manually entering data while your colleagues are already out the door. Now, imagine hitting ‘submit’ and walking out at 5 PM instead. That’s what our customers experience after implementing our solution.”
See the difference? You’re making the story about them and how their life improves.
What Buyers Really Want
Buyers don’t want a long list of features. And outright telling them they have a problem isn’t the best way to engage them, either.
Instead, take them on a journey. Make them feel the pain of the problem and the relief of the solution. Show them what success looks like—not just with data, but with a story that makes them feel it.
Try This On Your Next Sales Call
The next time you’re in a demo or sales conversation, try weaving in a story instead of listing out features.
- Use a character they can relate to.
- Paint a clear before-and-after picture.
- Keep it concise and relevant to their priorities.
Want to see storytelling in action? Watch our full webinar with Rew Dickinson.
Scaling Storytelling with Consensus
Of course, telling the perfect sales story is only part of the equation. The real challenge is scaling that story across all your buyers, ensuring every stakeholder gets the same engaging, personalized experience.
That’s where Consensus comes in. Consensus’ Product Experience Platform helps you tell better sales stories at scale through interactive demos, product simulations, and guided tours. Instead of just explaining your product’s value, you can show buyers exactly how it solves their pain points—on their terms, at their pace.
With interactive demos, prospects don’t just hear the story; they experience it firsthand. They see the transformation, the pain relief, and the success, all in a personalized, repeatable way that engages every stakeholder in the deal.
In the end, great sales stories don’t just persuade—they convert. And with Consensus, you can make sure every buyer gets the story they need to say “yes.”
