Prove Your Worth: The Real Secret to Persuasion

Hello and welcome. Today we're going to look at why you don't have to be a good storyteller to improve your sales or to grow your business. Now, the reason why I want us to look at this today is because, as usual, I've been seeing some chatter over social media. There are people going around saying that if you want to be good at sales, you want to be able to convince people, you want to be able to persuade people, you want to be able to create content that is going to move people, then you have to become a very good storyteller.

And I'm here to let you all know that that is not actually the case. Now, people who think you have to be a good storyteller in order to grow your sales or to grow your business are confusing. Two things now for those of us who studied, I think was social studies in Nigerian primary school. You remember the lessons on culture where they were trying to define culture. And at the end of the day, they split up culture into two things.

There's artifacts and then there's the beliefs. So the, the culture is people's actual beliefs, what people believe and do, you know, on a day-to-day and on a week to week. But then the artifacts are the outward signs that we see that are kind of evidence of those kinds of behavior. So there's some people, for instance, because I'm TIF, I'm from Beno State, some people assume that black and white dresses is part of TIF culture.

And in a sense, you know, it is part of TIF culture. But The thing is, the black and white dress is just an artifact of TIF culture. Artifacts change over time. You can come back in 1000 years and maybe tea culture will no longer be black and white. You know, who knows, maybe it might be black and brown then. So artifacts can change over time. The visible signs of things can change over time. So what some people notice is that people who are good are producing content or people who are good at selling, a lot of them seem to be very good at telling stories.

And so because of that, people say, oh, if I want to make more money, therefore I have to be good at telling stories as well. Unfortunately, people are just being confused by the artifacts. There's some people who listen to this podcast and say, guy, you're good at storytelling. So because of that, people assume that I'm good at selling because I can tell stories. Well, I'm here to let you people know the good news. And the good news is that is not the case.

It is not storytelling by itself that is going to make you successful in your business or much more persuasive when you're face to face with people or when you're producing content, to be good at sales or to be good at selling or to be good in business. We need to be able to find ways to get people to understand the value proposition that we have so that they can see what's in it for them if they use our product, if they use our service.

So the principle actually is not the storytelling. The principle is just that in order to be good at persuading people or to be good at sales and selling, you have to be able to illustrate things about your product or service. To illustrate just means to show. Now how you want take shwam depends on you. So there's some people like me who throw it into a story. The other people who use a demonstration, they will say Madam come and see or auger com and see and then they will physically demonstrate.

Then there are some people for some products or services who use their presentations or charts. The important thing is not the chart in itself. You don't have to be good at creating PowerPoints proposals to sell. The important thing is not the stories in itself. You don't have to become good at telling stories to sell. The important thing is that when you are face to face to the potential customer, a potential client, a potential stakeholder,

a potential investor, you can get them to understand the value that you bring. And you do that job by using illustrations. The illustration is up to you. So if you're not a storytelling person, well, it's not a problem. You're fine. You don't have to go and learn how to tell stories. If you're the kind of person who illustrates things by using bar chat and graph and everything, then bar chat and graph your thing. If you're the kind of person who illustrates things by showing a demonstration, by saying auger,

Madam, look at my product. See how The thing is. If you touch it, you will do like this. If you do like this, you will do like that, blah, blah, blah. If you're that kind of person, do your thing. If you're the kind of person who does wonderful proposals over PowerPoint, you know, if you can illustrate using PowerPoint, do your thing, but you do not have to be a storyteller. However, it's non negotiable. We have to be able to show people somehow that if you use our product or our service, this is what you will enjoy or this is how it will help you solve this problem, or this is how it will help you achieve this goal.

This is how it would help you do this, help you do that. So that one is non negotiable. We have to be good at illustrating the value that we bring. Whether you do it through stories, sorry, forgive me. Whether you do it through stories is up to you. Whether you do it through presentations, PowerPoint is up to you. Whether you use physical demonstrations, it's up to you. Well, don't be hoodwinked by people. And then next thing you Start learning storytelling techniques.

It will distract you. You will get distracted. Stop going around learning storytelling techniques. You don't need that. You go online, you start doing research about narrative acts and about the character's journey and you know all these other things, and then you Start learning story structure and you know you will get distracted. You do not need to learn how to tell stories. Please, all these people going around on the Internet saying learn how to be a good storyteller.

They mean well, but they will mislead you. For those of you self who want to tell stories, there's no need for you to learn any fancy character development, narrative art and all these sorts of things. All you need to be able to do is just talk honestly about the benefit that your product or your service delivered to somebody. So if you're in the situation where you have a conversation with the customer, and by the way, that's what I do.

It's just that sometimes it comes out in stories. All I'm doing is just saying that, look, this is how you do things. As a matter of fact, there was this particular person. This is what we were working on while we were working on it. We face this and this challenge. At the end of the day, this is the value that I provided to the person. That's all. It's an illustration, right? So don't go and Start learning fancy story techniques.

It's simple enough for you to say something like let's say you're in solar cells, like oh Olga, I understand perfectly that you think 50 million naira for a solar system, A10 kilowatts, you know, whatever, whatever, whatever is expensive, I understand perfectly. In fact, Ogga, there was one client that I had in Ibadan and that was precisely what he told me while we were talking. Anyway, he went ahead and he got the system.

I spoke to him 1 1/2 years later, the system is working fine, even though he has had to add extra panels and everything. He has confirmed that that 50 million naira investment has either results in his business or it has made his home, you know, more comfortable or whatever. And instead of spending 4400 every single month in electricity because he is in Band-Aid, over the course of the last year all they spent on Napa was now 10,000 naira.

The solar system carried the rest. So even though he invested heavily in front by paying 50,000,001, 1/2 years later he has seen the benefits. So you can see in this case, that's not any fancy storytelling. That is just you telling the customer that, oh, OK, I understand perfectly. This is a similar circumstance. This is what we faced before then this is how we dealt with it and this was the solution at the end. This was the joy at the end.

This was the result for the customer at the end. And that same value that we got to that customer is what I want to provide to you today. You can see it's not fancy storytelling. It's just illustrating this is the value proposition. This is the chief benefit that you will get in using the product, in using the service. In fact, there was a customer similar to yours where we face this kind of situation and this is how we handled it today.

This is the benefit that we're enjoying. That's it. You are just trying to illustrate the benefit. That's all. Just in case there's somebody who didn't understand, let me say it again. You do not have to be a storyteller. Stop running around researching storytelling techniques. What you should do is to learn how to illustrate the benefit, and you can do so in the mode that kind of comes naturally to you. So yes, those of us who tell stories, you know, it seems magical, it seems fun, it seems interesting.

But if you're one of those people who likes to draw lines on paper, continue drawing lines on paper, so long as you can draw lines effectively to illustrate the benefit to the person. And yes, there are people like that. So there are people who sell solar who will give the story that, oh, I had the customers who this was the situation. This is how we resolved it today. This is where they are. This is the benefit, chief.

I want you to have that benefit too. There are other solar people who bring out a paper and say, OK, Sir, so it's like this. Then they will draw a box. It's OK, this is your house. The reason why we're worried about this is this is because the sun rises in the east and sets in the West. So therefore the thing must slant like this. Then they will draw a line. They will draw a circle. This is the sun. This is your roof.

Then the solar, you know, there's some people who does their thing. They draw a line and they draw a circle. If that's your thing, continue to draw. I learned how to draw very well. But the goal, what we're trying to do is we're trying to illustrate the benefits to the customer. So please don't be deceived. Don't run around feeling like you have to tell stories. And even if you must tell stories, don't look for any fancy storytelling technique.

It's just a simple thing of, you know, someone or you dealt with another customer who was in a similar situation and these were the challenges. This is how you overcame the challenges. These are the results. These are the benefits that you're able to give them. And so, Mr. Dear customer, if you just relax, let me ask you a few questions. Let me inspect, let me look around. That's all I'm just trying to do today, trying to see how I can bring you to that same level of benefit.

That's all illustrating a benefit. That's it. So please do not get distracted by the artifacts, right? Please don't. There's a friend of mine who one day she approached me and she told me, ah, must be easy for you because after all, you're tall. In my mind, I'm thinking, what does height have to do with anything? So what next? If you notice that people who are good at selling all of us have to be tall, what next? Will you go for surgery and increase your height?

What is done is done. OK. Yeah, average height by Niger standards. That's just an artifact. Don't get, because don't be confused, That's not the secret to why I can sell well. So it's not the stories, it's not my height, it's not my education, it's not my upbringing, it's not my whatever. All those things are just artifacts. There are principles behind how to sell well. Learn the principles, apply them for your circumstance.

You will be fine. Please do not learn storytelling. If you're a storyteller, good. If you're telling stories like me, good. Then learn your craft. Hone your craft. But what we're trying to do is we're not trying to win Grammys here. We're just trying to illustrate the benefit. Anyway, it's been over 10 minutes. I guess there's no need for me flogging this issue, so let me just bring it to a close. So thank you very much for listening.

If you'd like to connect with me, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. If in selling situations you've had difficulty in trying to convey to your customer, convey to your client the unique value that you provide, then reach out to me 08064662140. Let's see how we can, how we can help you get that straightened out, get that sorted out. Yeah. So that's it. Thank you for your time and attention.

I'll catch you all some other episode.