Whether you want to touch a nerve with your current coaching clients, reach a new potential audience, or boost your coaching revenue there is a secret sales tool that you can add to your sales and social media strategies.

The secret sales tool is storytelling, and it is the most powerful tool you can have in your sales arsenal. As humans, we love a good story, and when it resonates with us, it can drive us to take action when nothing else can.

Think about it. Which would you rather read, an interesting story, or a sales letter?

Which are you more likely to remember a week from now, a compelling story, or a features comparison?

And which are you more likely to buy, a story you can see yourself in, or a product that does this and that?

More than likely you are leaning toward the stories, however, when you look at your own marketing you may be leaning toward the latter.

If you think back on your own most recent purchases, from the business coach you hired to the car you bought last fall, chances are you’ll find there is a story that resonated with you, and that drove your decision to purchase.

Let’s look through different types of stories that you can add to your social media and sales processes to arouse more interest and more sales in your coaching business.

Sales Secrets: Stories About You

You’ve heard it time and time again: People buy from those they know, like, and trust. And part of getting to know you is hearing your stories. Your potential coaching clients want to know how you came to be in business, what experiences you’ve had that drove your decisions, what lessons you learned to get you where you are today.

Your stories don’t have to be directly related to business to be powerful, either. That anecdote about the time you nearly got arrested for not having a valid driver’s license is the perfect lead-in to a blog post about better record keeping. Or the story about how you accidentally seated two warring families together at your wedding reception? It’s just what you need to drive home a point about relationship building.

Or the story about how you accidentally seated two warring families together at your wedding reception? It’s just what you need to drive home a point about relationship building.

Brainstorm stories you can share about yourself.

Sales Secrets: Stories About Your Clients

Also known as social proof, stories about your coaching clients are incredibly useful in your marketing and branding strategy. Testimonials, white papers, case studies and the like are all just stories, after all, and they showcase how you and your coaching has changed a life or a business for the better.

Don’t be shy about sharing these social proofing stories and peppering them into your sales and social media strategy. What testimonial stories can you add to your marketing?

Sales Secrets: Stories About Your Coaching

Yes, even your coaching services have stories to tell. Why did you decide to create that new coaching program? What will it help your clients achieve? Who is it not suited to? (Think stories, not bullet points!!!)

These stories can show your potential clients more about your products and services than any sales page ever will. When you openly share your thought processes as you were creating your program, buyers will instantly know if it’s a product that will work for them or not. They will feel more in-touch with you and understand you more, thus more likely to buy from you.

What stories, about your current coaching services, can you share? Look at the why’s behind your services to dig deeper.

Clearly, stories have a lot of power when it comes to branding and marketing, but you have to use caution. Beware of the awkward insertion of a story just because you’ve heard it’s good for your marketing. If you find yourself midway through a blog post and you write something like, “but anyway, enough of that, let’s get on with business” and then making a total shift to a completely different subject, chances are the story isn’t working.

But if you can tie your story in naturally to what follows, that’s your golden ticket to better branding, more sales, and a more profitable business. Everyone love stories. Don’t be afraid to tell yours.