THE STORYSELLING METHOD

Speaker and sales coach Humm presents a tactical plan to reach one’s sales, marketing, and career goals through better storytelling.

At the outset of this sales manual, the author assures readers that his method of telling stories will, among other things, “leave magical first impressions,” inspire everyone around them, and, perhaps more to the point, overcome their resistance to sales pitches. He focuses on five core areas to “transform your storytelling skills”: crafting interesting tales from ordinary moments, finding “the five types of stories that are most effective in sales conversations,” building one’s confidence, delivering stories “naturally and authentically,” and making a clear plan to do all these things. He draws on his own experience of coaching clients, talking with business leaders, and reading widely in the motivational business genre; at one point, for instance, he quotes sales trainer Mark Hunter: “Stories put the other person in storytelling mode. It’s no longer like, ‘I gotta be careful. You're just trying to take my money.’ ” If you want a potential buyer to remember you, Humm writes, you should engage their emotions with your story. This is one of his three key elements of improving one’s technique, which also include surprising listeners and presenting moments that allow for easy visualization. Some readers may resist the idea of combining personal, emotional storytelling with sales manipulation. However, Humm is a convincing and very personable guide to his method over the course of his book, and readers will find his repeated emphasis on determining and then serving the needs of the customer to be refreshingly direct. Occasionally, though, an unsettling note surfaces, as when he urges readers to mine every single verbal sales exchange for valuable information: “Every conversation is an additional data point that you can use to tell industry stories in your next conversations.” Here’s hoping readers use such advice responsibly.

An often engaging, if sometimes excessive, guide to generating sales with tales.