Marketers have been updating their strategies to get more and more customers as the days pass by. The advent of technology has made things easier for both customers and marketers. But times have changed, and customers are becoming smarter. Your sales team cannot bombard them with multi-channel messages and expect a conversion. Your business might get ignored.
It is high time you change your sales tactics and make the customer the hero of your story. Let us dig deeper into this concept.
Shift the paradigm
As marketers, we have been telling stories since the beginning of time. Now you just have to change the paradigm. Move on from the “how” to the “why.”
So far, we have been too invested in our own products and services. When we contact prospects, we only explain “how” they can buy and what the benefits would be if they did.
Empathetic marketing is gaining importance, and your business must infuse it into your strategies. Your sales team needs to understand a customer persona’s needs and pain points. then they can pitch the “how.” Explain how your product or service is the solution that they did not know of. Also, help them see how to eradicate their pain points.
Why is a customer-hero story powerful?
It is 2023, and as a business, you must be able to intertwine empathy with marketing. By being empathetic, you can put yourself in the customer’s shoes and understand them better.
For that, you need to put aside your preconceived notions. Attempt to build a relationship with your leads on an emotional level, ergo a social connection. This way, the leads would also be able to relate to you and react to your ads the way you hope they will.
Research shows that people tend to identify with stories where characters are trying to overcome hurdles and achieve something. So your sales team persuades prospects that they are the heroes of our story and that we are merely guides.
Steps to develop a story where the customer is the hero
Now let us move on to the steps to developing a story where a customer is a hero.
Step 1 : Identify a customer that you have helped in the past
Dig up your sales history and find a customer that you have helped. Now, this is an actual person so be careful when you make the choice. Note down their name, business, and the industry they belong to. You can spare other personal and transactional details.
Step 2 : Define struggles
Trace out the customer’s journey before they encountered your product or service. Define what was preventing them from reaching their pinnacle.
Step 3 : Pitch the struggles and solutions
The next step is to pitch the selected customer’s struggles and how they found the solution. The solution here is your company’s product or services. Additionally, maintain the language and tonality so that the prospective customers are able to relate.
Step 4 : Share the customer’s experience
This is the most important step. Blend the facts and emotions into a story. The hero’s narrative will eventually affect the way the leads view your company. The target prospect must be able to feel the emotions and facts and must be able to quantify those feelings.
Tips to engage leads
Here are some tips to keep your leads engaged:
1. Keep the story short yet engaging.
2. Work with sensory words and not jargon, that test their vocabulary skills.
3. Use pictures or graphics to corroborate your story.
4. Prefer to use personal pronouns like “I” and “you” to keep the content casual.
5. Give limited-time offers to get their attention and force them to act quickly.
6. Seek their opinion before creating a marketing strategy. Ask them to answer a questionnaire or survey. Make them feel involved.
7. Give out an exclusive offer. Ask them to be part of a select group that gets additional benefits over others.
Remember that the customer is the hero in the sales pitch and that their problem is the challenge. Your business is their best friend, and you are only there to point them toward the best possible solution.
