Story-Based Selling

As a founder of a successful organization that trains and develops sales professionals, Jeff Bloomfield has given a lot of thought to why customers say yes. In Story-Based Selling: Create, Connect, and Close, Mr. Bloomfield says it's really no mystery. People buy from people they trust. They trust people they like, and they like people they connect to. And he believes that storytelling is the best way for salespeople—and all of us—to immediately connect to a customer's feelings of trust and liking. He thinks teaching sales professionals to close a deal by presenting their product, probing its mutual benefits, and overcoming the customer's objections and skepticism, is a waste of time. Instead, he urges them to tell a great story.