Why Service Delivery Businesses Need Storytelling

I have worked for service businesses for the last ten years and one of the main challenges with selling services is how to make the intangible into something tangible.

Whilst you can put in place great policies, processes and standard tools, a service provided by people is always going to have an element of the unknown and vary; due to the experience, personality and sense of purpose of the individual involved.

So how do you sell a service, when it can’t be seen and the experience may vary? You need to make it tangible, and telling stories to prospective customers of how your services have provided benefits, or made others feel, is a great way to make a service tangible.

What is Storytelling?

Storytelling is described by John Coleman in his book Passion & Purpose, Stories From The Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders, as “the art of sharing structured information which evokes a reaction or emotion“.

The reason that the human brain likes and can remember stories so well compared to raw data or numbers, is down to our psychological make-up.

Why Does it Work?

Having studied psychology, I know that our brains are actually wired to react more to stories than to simple facts and figures. If we listen to a bullet-point style presentation, certain parts in the brain get activated, in general the language processing parts (Psychologists call this our Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas). When we are told a story, researchers have found that other areas of our brain that we would use if we had experienced the story are used too. For example, when told about a great restaurant meal, our sensory cortex lights up. When we are told about a friends exercise regime, our motor cortex gets active. It is these reactions which make stories so much more memorable than facts, because they evoke a physical reaction in us.

There is a great quote from Maya Angelou which states “People will forget what you said, will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel”. That’s why the most successful Ted Talk presenters start with a story about themselves or a recent experience to grab your attention, I can guarantee you will notice it more now!

How Does it Relate to Business?

When customers are considering buying a product, they can touch and feel it, compare prices online, or even test drive it, before they buy. When customers are considering a service, they look for endorsements, testimonials, photos or ask existing customers. They look for the human reaction or benefit gained from using that provider.

According to the TripAdvisor website, they have over 390 million users each month, comparing experiences and reading reviews from hotels and restaurants, a great example of how people rely on external sources and storytelling to examine the benefits of a service before they buy.

So, telling a story about how your service has helped overcome a challenge, or provided benefits to other users is a great way to make your service tangible and also more memorable compared to others.

Providing evidence, in terms of a case study or a profile of a similar type of customer, can be very persuasive to buyers. Using the right structure for this type of communication is important though.

So, what do you need to consider when telling a story about your service?

This short info-graphic above right explains some key points.

Need some help to create your business story? Bond Creative Content provides marketing support and writing services for small to medium businesses on a short-term, part-time or temporary basis.
Contact Us to find out more.