Selling with Stories, Part 1: What Makes a Great Story?

with Paul A. Smith

Stories Assessment Exercise

Is this a story? Does this narrative have a specific:
Narrative #1: Are your teeth stained or yellow? Are you embarrassed to smile Time _____________
at parties or in pictures or videos, especially next to your friends with movie-star
smiles? Have you tried teeth whitening systems but given up after a few days Place ___________________________________
because they made your teeth too sensitive? Main Character __________________________
If so, Ultra-White is right for you. It’s the revolutionary new teeth whitening Goal ____________________________________
system designed by Hollywood dentists to give you star-quality whiteness
without all the pain and discomfort. Ultra-White includes a two-step process Obstacle ________________________________
that alternates applications between a high-impact whitening paste and a
Events __________________________________
desensitization gel. The result is sparkling white teeth without any discomfort
that would keep you from showing off your new Hollywood smile. ________________________________________

Is it a story?
Yes No

www.leadwithastory.com Based on Lead with a Story, and Sell with a Story, by Paul A. Smith Twitter: @LeadWithAStory

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Is this a story? Does this narrative have a specific:
Narrative #2: A couple of years ago, Dave Neild, the Network Service Leader Time _____________
at the University of Leeds in England realized he had a problem. He was getting
cease and desist orders and copyright violation notices from all over the world Place ___________________________________
due to students on campus using file sharing services like BitTorrent. In addition, Main Character __________________________
many of the students were showing up in his office with computers infected by
viruses, which took his staff up to an hour each to clean up. Goal ____________________________________

Dave agreed to do a test with a Hewlett Packard TippingPoint network security Obstacle ________________________________
device to see if that could help. When the test was over, he told us, “As soon as
Events __________________________________
we installed TippingPoint, we instantly stopped receiving copyright notices. That
protected our students from getting threatened by lawyers, and it protected the ________________________________________
reputation of the University.” They also got about 30% of their lost bandwidth
Is it a story?
back from the reduction in file sharing.”
Yes No

www.leadwithastory.com Based on Lead with a Story, and Sell with a Story, by Paul A. Smith Twitter: @LeadWithAStory

Selling with Stories, Part 1: What Makes a Great Story? with Paul A. Smith 2 of 3
Is this a story? Does this narrative have a specific:
Narrative #3: You should be using your shoppers’ planned purchases of Time _____________
toothpaste to sell more toothbrushes. Currently, shoppers only buy toothbrushes
about every six months, despite the fact that dentists suggest replacing a Place ___________________________________
toothbrush every three months. Your shoppers are already in your Oral Care aisle Main Character __________________________
every two months to buy toothpaste. If you co-merchandised toothbrushes with
toothpastes, you could close more toothbrush sales with your shoppers. Goal ____________________________________

And toothbrushes help sweeten the profits for you as a retailer. The Obstacle ________________________________
average toothpaste category profit margin is only x%, but toothbrushes are
Events __________________________________
usually double that. And your own sales data shows a dramatic increase in
toothbrush sales when merchandised with toothpaste. Our February co- ________________________________________
merchandising event delivered a 22% sales increase on toothbrushes over
Is it a story?
three weeks. That was $yy million in incremental sales. This was, by far, the best
toothbrush sales month of the year—even bigger than Christmas! Yes No

www.leadwithastory.com Based on Lead with a Story, and Sell with a Story, by Paul A. Smith Twitter: @LeadWithAStory

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