Desire: Hack Sales

According to a 2014 study in the Journal of Consumer Research, evoking a sense of nostalgia makes people willing to pay more (which might explain why so many brands use retro designs). My theory is that emotionally reconnecting to the past helps us realise how short life is, and that money isn't as important as experiences – or meaning. If this is true and if, as I say, stories are vehicles of meaning, then the value of a story must be quantifiable.

Increase Perceived Value

In 2009, anthropologists conducted the 'Significant Objects' study by asking writers to buy an item from eBay for $1.25. After inventing a story for the object, it was put back up for sale. The same thrift-store junk that had been purchased for a total of $128, with stories attached, now sold for $3,612.

Let's look at one of the stories, which you can find on www.significantobjects.com. I selected one called Implement because the implement in question looks pretty useless. I can't actually tell what it is. Perhaps an old, deformed whisk. Apparently, it also stumped the writer, John Wray, who kindly allowed me to reprint the story here:

"It's certainly — well. It's certainly a something," Lily murmured, upon being introduced to the Object. "But what kind of something is it?"

"This," said Oliver, cradling the Object reverently in his open palms, "Is the something that is going to save our marriage."

Not having been birthed yesterday, Lily had her doubts, but she was willing to be persuaded. She was desperate to be persuaded, in fact. And there was something about the something in Oliver's palms that resisted all her efforts to resist it. Unlike most of the objects in Lily's environs, it seemed to raise more questions than it answered. First of all, what was it?

"What is it?" said Lily.

"I just told you," Oliver said patiently.

The Object expressed no opinion.

"Well, we might as well give it a try," Lily said. "How do we make it do?"

Oliver squinted down at the Object for a while, and then shrugged. "I think we just set it down in the corner," he said finally. "Give it room to do its work."

Lily considered this a moment, then took Oliver's hand, and they deposited the object, gently and circumspectly, in the room's nearest corner. "How long will it take?" Lily wondered.

"Ten and a half days," Oliver said firmly. Lily couldn't help noticing, however, that he avoided looking her in the eye. You'll never persuade me that way, Lily said to herself. The Object chittered and hummed in its corner.

"What a strange thing it is," Lily said. "It reminds me of something."

"Shhh!" Oliver whispered. "Don't talk about it. The less we acknowledge it, the better."

It wasn't until weeks later, when their marriage had long since been saved, that they saw the Object for what it truly was. By then, of course, it didn't make the slightest bit of difference.

What was the effect of this whimsical tale? Original price of 'the implement' without story: 99 cents. Final price with story: $20.50. So, you see, stories work even for virtually unidentifiable items. The Significant Objects study really is, well, significant. Buyers knew the stories were fictitious, and yet they paid an average of twenty-eight times more! This is great proof for the economic power of stories in general. This all happened on eBay. Imagine the potential when you know who you're trying to reach and where they are to be found, the kind of journey they are on, and how your product fits in.

All kinds of stories might help do this. Stories about what goes into the product and what the outcomes are; stories about the kind of person who uses the product, and by extension who you can become (aspirational identity). Products become merely the means to acting out that story. Props. We are likely to buy organic, herbal, handmade soap (and tell people about it) because of what it says about us. 'I know James Bond doesn't exist, but this is the watch he wears! If I wear it, I can be as competent and suave as him.'

In All Marketers are Liars (Who Tell Authentic Stories), Seth Godin says that while marketers 'lie' to customers, the right audiences are complicit. They want to be lied to, or they wouldn't buy the story. For the watch itself we pay $50, for the story we pay $5,000. This necessitates telling a story that resonates with what might be a very specific audience and being willing to alienate the rest.

Incidentally, individual product stories are useful for price segmentation and product diversification. A client who is the head of marketing for a global enterprise recently told me about his work with a previous employer. When he started, their most expensive cigar was priced at $30. By the time he left, they were selling cigars for $500 each … and which only cost $1 more to produce. The difference? Storytelling around brand identity and how the tobacco was aged for more than 10 years (which it was).

Remember my story about the United Nations agencies? Incidentally, that was an example of a solution story or sales story. A problem you can fix for clients. Instead of pitching someone directly – especially if they are not yet a client – you can tell a story about how you solved someone else's problem and allow the other person to come to their own conclusion about the fact that you could help them with their problem, too.

This is exactly what happened to me. A few weeks later, I was coaching the president of an NGO, and mentioned the UN agency story. It turned out this gentleman was having a similar problem: his employees were all quarrelling over their organisation's strategy, and during our conversation the president realised they would never reach unity as long as they were talking in the abstract. Towards the conclusion of our session, the gentleman paused and said: "We've been working with a strategy consultant, but hearing all this, I think I'd rather work with you." Sometimes the power of story catches even me by surprise. By sharing an anecdote, I'd unintentionally planted the idea in his head that storytelling might succeed where the traditional organisational approach had failed.

Model the Sale

There's nothing worse than a tired sales spiel. Sometimes salespeople just don't sound quite human. You can tell they're giving you a script – that sounds like it was written by a robot. The human alternative is to tell and listen out for stories, like I did with the aforementioned NGO president. Telling a sales story like that is remarkably simple with this framework: Your client had a problem until they met a guide and made a plan that avoided failure and ended in success. Let's unpack this.

1. Your client. Who was this other client? What did they want? You want the person you're talking with to identify with this character, so try and cast this other client in the role of the story's protagonist or hero. Don't even mention they were your client – yet. Just introduce us to them. This will ensure the story is powerful and authentic rather than an obvious sales pitch.

2. Had a problem. Why couldn't this client achieve their goal? What was their problem? Why was this terrible and how did it make them feel? This is where you rope in prospective clients. If they could not identify with the hero in the first sentences, e.g. because they are in a different industry, then they should now recognise: Hey, I have that same problem! Now they will be hooked, and you'll have their undivided attention.

3. Until they met a guide. How did the client meet you? Did someone recommend you to them? Did you help them in the past, or had they always wanted to work with you? These are all useful things to mention to cement your credibility.

(Excerpted with permission from 'Business Storytelling from Hype to Hack' by Jyoti Guptara, Rs 363, published by Pippa Rann Books & Media)