Example One: Why Use Stories in Business?
This example comes from the UK banking industry. The organization, VServe, was in the business of providing 3rd party banking and financial services to the customers of the leading banks in the UK. So, for example the staff of Vserve would answer inbound calls on behalf of Barclays Bank from customers of the bank, attend to the service requests and attempt to promote other products that the bank was offering its customers – Service and Sales.
The market was extremely competitive, with many 3rd party vendors such as Vserve jostling to prove that they could provide the best cost effective service. The outsourcing business was just in it’s budding phase and there were still some reservations around the capability of staff based out of another country, on a different continent, being able to service the requirements of the average UK citizen.
As the cost was relatively similar across vendors, it was the “What’s in it for you?” that became the key focus of business pitches. The pitch riveted around what “more” your organization can provide the bank and the customers of the bank, at the same cost as any of the other vendors.
It was in this kind of a economic scenario that the Chief Operating Officer of Vserve approached a leading bank in the UK to offer their services. All detailed information about Vserve’s founders, stakeholders, financials, locations and sites, human talent pool, facilities, IT structure, and other customers had already been shared with the bank previously.
The COO decided the best approach to address the bank’s board of directors was to differentiate his organization from the vendor pool in terms of customer satisfaction and the ability of the Vserve talent pool to be able to not only service the UK customers but to also go out of their way to ensure that the customer is not negatively impacted.
He began his Story: “This is an example of the service our staff provided for the customer of a bank who had called in to report fraud on her account. The customer had followed all the procedures laid down by the bank for reporting fraud on their bank accounts. She was calling in to find out the status of her claim. The call was answered by one of our fraud executives who informed the customer that the claim had been received and was currently in processing. It would take 2-5 business days to resolve. The customer was distressed as the money had been removed from her bank account and without that she would not have the required finances to pay the bills and make ordinary daily purchases. This would make survival very difficult as she was a single working mother. The fraud executive, in an attempt to comfort the distressed customer, offered to fast track the investigation. Even then the refund to the account, in the event that it was a genuine case of fraud, generally took 2 business days. However with an approval from the Head of Department and a call to the investigation team the refund could be done immediately.”
“The fraud executive assured the customer that he would do everything possible from his end to close the investigation and based on the outcome accordingly arrange for a refund. She was apprehensive, but short of any other option agreed to await a callback from the executive.
The executive then contacted the investigation team and had the case fast tracked, the outcome of which was in the customer’s favor. He then requested the approval of the Head of Department, through his Team Leader and Group Manager. Once the immediate refund was sanctioned, he then followed up with the investigation team to ensure the refund was processed, and double checked the system to confirm the availability of the funds before calling the customer, before close of business the same day, with the much awaited news. All of this took about an hour instead 4-5 business days.”
“The customer was ecstatic and was full of praise for the customer centric service that the employees of the bank had offered her. She insisted on speaking to the executive’s manager to express her gratitude and to praise the executive who had handled her case. These calls were all recorded and could be played back whenever required. She also sent a letter to the CEO of the bank expressing her gratitude to the bank and it’s employees.
The bank’s board forwarded the letter and the feedback from the customer to our, Vserve’s, management along with their appreciation of the level of service being provided by the our staff to their customers.
Essentially it was a case of our staff’s dedication to service in transcending from customer satisfaction (getting the case processed) to customer delight (getting it processed and refunded within an hour).”
Vserve secured the business.
Key Highlights: The setting was the current Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Industry.
- Protagonist - The Chief Operating Officer
- Antagonist - The budding BPO industry, a highly competitive market and the doubts around the capability of the staff to service the UK customer.
- The Problem - The costs of the services being offered being almost constant across the industry, how would he promote his organization over the competition.
- Solution - The COO decided to get his clients to place themselves in the position of their customer, and relate to the excellent customer service being delivered and in going the extra distance to ensure customer delight.
- Result - Satisfied and loyal customers; Secured the contract.
Message - The COO was marketing Vserve’s brand image from a perspective of the service oriented culture inculcated in their staff, where customer satisfaction is the prime focus.
Example Two: Why Your Business is Unique?
This is a story that I share with prospective entrepreneurs who are looking to set up their own businesses online. My name is Helen Miranda and this narrative is what I actually experienced when setting up my own online business. My Story:-
“Turning a hobby into a means of living is what a lot of people dream of. I have been able to realise that dream by turning my hobby of crocheting into a successful online business.
I learned to crochet from the age of 8 but it was just a hobby for many years. Later on when the boom of the internet caught on, websites with hundreds of intricate and beautiful patterns captivated me. I honed my skills to perfection and learnt new techniques, but it was much later when this made a difference in my life.
I was a college lecturer by profession, but after our daughter was born, I became a full-time mom!! It was not possible to hold down a full time job. Since I was now at home, my friends encouraged me to try and start selling my products as opposed to just giving them away as gifts. That’s when I realised I could strike off one item from my Bucket List - selling my handmade crochet items online.”
“The only challenging obstacle facing me, was that I had absolutely no clue how to sell my products online. I wasn’t sure how to go about the whole process and every aspect of it was all new to me.
Then, I researched the web and found OLX and Facebook to be my first point of entry. I learned how to create a page through which I could showcase my products. Later, I also learnt about website creation and created my own website too. This really helped, as it let prospective customers know about my products.
Through the years I continued to learn new techniques and further develop my crocheting skills. I have also learnt marketing and photography that have helped me in improving the visibility of my products online. One key factor that’s unique about my business is, that customers can view all products listed on the site and then customize them to suit their choice. As all orders are made from start only after they are confirmed, this is a benefit I can offer my customers. Furthermore, they can send me designs that aren’t on my site and I can make it for them. After I added these features to my website the business almost doubled.”
Key Highlights:
- Protagonist - The Narrator, a self styled entrepreneur.
- Antagonist - The lack of experience in setting up an online business and the fact that there were multiple players in the market already.
- The Problem - The narrator was faced with the challenge of having to learn all the necessary skills she would require to start up her own online business. She also had to differentiate her business from the other run-of-the-mill business’ online.
- Solution - The narrator researched the web by herself and learnt web page creation through OLX/Facebook, website creation, marketing and photography skills, all the time keeping her upskilled on her core competency, crocheting.
- Result - Successfully set up an thriving online business which is unique. Established a loyal customer base.
Message - The narrator differentiated her business from the competition by offering unique value added features only she could offer. Also one should identify the key areas where training is required and then proactively set about accomplishing that requirement.
Example Three: Resolving Objections with a Story
Most salespeople agree that, the real selling doesn’t start until the buyer says no. That’s why there are various methods salespersons use for handling objections. If you don’t use stories along with those methods, or supplementary to them, you’re missing out on a powerful tool. Your buyers’ objections often manifest themselves the form of a story—be it’s shared or just existing in their heads. It’s hard to beat a bad story with a fact, rather, beat it with a better story.
Here’s an example from Tiffany Lopez, a senior executive at DataServ. DataServ helps businesses go paperless and manage all their documents online. The common objection she gets from a new prospect is something like: “I know your system would save us some time, and we’re really busy right now. However I’m not sure whether the return on the time savings would justify the investment.” Here’s how Tiffany responds to that objection. Instead of facts or arguments, she tells a story about one of her recent prospects who had the same objection — a zoo.
She’d say: “On one of the calls with the zoo, I found they were very busy, as you are. They spent a lot of time keying in documents to their internal system, as you do, and shipping off hard copies to off-site storage facilities. Then went searching through a whole warehouse for them later when they were needed.”
“I explained that by using our system, they could eliminate that process and would save a remarkably large amount of time. Then, I asked, “How would spend the extra time that you would have saved with automation?” They were taken aback, but they said, “We’d do more research with the time and apply for more grant funds.” So I asked, “Aren’t grant funds how you pay for almost everything in the zoo? Like the new gorilla exhibit or the sprinkler system you’ve been working on for months?” They nodded their heads. So I asked, “Correct me if I’m wrong. All this time consuming, no value paperwork is actually retraining you from pursuing the zoo’s number one revenue source?!” Them: “Yes, we suppose it is.” Me: “Well, then, it’s obviously a no-brainer to me.”
Here’s where Tiffany stops her story and allows for a little silence to do its work. She tells this story, as it’s not easy for people to imagine more profitable ways to spend extra time, money or resources they don’t have yet—because they don’t have it yet.
But post hearing her story, it’s easier for prospects to think of much more valuable work they could have done—either because the story got them to thinking outside the box for a change or because they just didn’t want to look small-minded in comparison to Tiffany’s other prospects.
Key Highlights:
- Protagonist - Tiffany Lopez, A sales executive.
- Antagonist - The objections that are raised by the prospects during or after the initial sales pitch.
- The Problem - Tiffany realized that it’s difficult for people to think of profitable ways to spend the extra time, money or resources they don’t have yet—because they don’t have it yet. Her challenge was to get them to broaden their thoughts to realise the potential benefits.
- Solution - Tiffany did this by telling then a story about one of her recent prospects who had the same objection — a zoo. This makes it easier for the prospects to think of much higher value work they could be doing.
- Result - Mostly Tiffany will over the prospect and they will sign the dotted line.
- Message - Instead of trying to resolve objections using facts or arguments, use a story about a recent prospect who had a similar objection. The best way to beat a negative story is to best it with a better one.