One thing you want to avoid on a sales call is talking about yourself unless the story that you’re sharing directly relates to your prospective client’s core desires when it comes to music lessons for their child.
One way to make the conversation more engaging is through storytelling. In this episode, I share with you ten tips on how to effectively use storytelling on a sales call.
1. Share Inspiring and Relevant Stories
One thing I like to do is have a collection of stories that I can share with parents on the phone. These may be stories about students in the past who had some inspirational moments that I feel would potentially be relevant to the parent that I’m speaking with.
2. Students’ Experiences
Sharing an uplifting story about a student can help build a prospective client’s excitement.
For instance, there’s this one inspiring story that I liked to share with parents. I shared this story specifically with parents who revealed that their child is shy and that they hope music lessons would help their child come out of their shell more.
Short little stories can maybe go a little bit more in-depth to what a parent has dreamt about when they think of their child taking lessons.
3. Show The Power of Music
This is a true story of a student at our school who struggled with selective mutism. She spoke around the house with her parents and her family, but she never spoke at school or to people outside the comfort of her family.
Her parents were concerned about their daughter’s ability to connect with other people and make friends and do well in school, so she came to my summer camp. Here comes the most inspiring part.
At the end of the camp concert, their daughter who had never spoken in public stepped up to the microphone and sang a song. Her parents were in tears. They had no idea that she was going to speak. Let alone sing in front of an audience. It was really a significant step in this child’s journey to overcoming her selective mutism. It turns out that she actually became a really social kid. She and my daughter actually became good friends.
A child’s journey could literally be from the moment of fear and uncertainty to the moment of being on stage and experiencing accomplishment.
4. Paint a Picture of a Desirable Outcome
Another story that I like to share with parents is about the student journey. This gives the parent a picture of a desirable outcome. I’d say, “It’s great to see these kids come on the first day of lessons. They don’t know how to play a note on their instruments. They’re maybe a little intimidated and uncertain of themselves. Just three or four months later, they’re standing up on stage playing an instrument in front of a large group of people.”
It’s a short little story, but it goes a little bit more in-depth to maybe what a parent has dreamt about when they think of their child taking lessons.
5. Map Out the Child’s Journey
Parents may think about what a recital would be like, but what I was doing there was mapping out what that journey will look like from day one. It literally is from the moment of fear and uncertainty to the moment of the child being on stage and experiencing accomplishment.
You can then share with them a genuine statement about how music helped you grow as a person, but this statement should be something that the parent would hope that their child would make someday.
6. Identify Parents’ Common Desires in Seeking Out Music Lessons
As I mentioned earlier, perhaps a parent wants their child to overcome their shyness. Some parents share that their child has tried other activities but has not experienced success in those activities. They might be worried about how it’s impacting their children’s self-esteem. Perhaps you have a story of a student whose self-esteem improved after learning how to play and perform at your school. These are great stories to share with prospective clients.
Writing down some common motivational factors or core desires that parents have when they typically seek out music lessons for their child might be a good exercise to do.
7. Help Parents Become More Open and Less Reluctant
Say it’s a parent with a 12-year-old child calling, and you’ve done a good job of building their excitement. You recommend her child to take an hour lesson; you’ll never know they might be more receptive to the upsell.
If they’re then much more excited about enrolling their child in music lessons, perhaps if you had introduced the upsell at the very beginning of the call, which could be the hour lesson, they might have been a little bit more reluctant.
By sharing stories and painting a picture of what success looks like for kids and music lessons, perhaps they’re now more open to the idea of an hour lesson.
Your personal stories or the stories of students in your school are opportunities to help bring to life the transformative impact that music can have on kids.
9. Keep the Spotlight on The Child
A few parents asked me if I was a musician or what instrument I play. You certainly want to answer that question if a parent asks, but you want to quickly turn the focus back on the child.
Maybe the parent asks you if you play an instrument and then you mentioned, “I’ve been playing the piano ever since I was 10.” You can then share with them a genuine statement about how music helped you grow as a person, but this statement should be something that the parent would hope that their child would make someday.
10. Create Lasting Opportunities
Perhaps you mentioned how crucial music was to you through your adolescence. You might have shared how playing the piano was something that you love to turn to after a long day of school and how playing it helps you transition from the stress of school.
The aspects of how music has impacted you are certainly a desirable outcome that parents are seeking when it comes to their child with music lessons. Your personal stories or the stories of students in your school are opportunities to help bring to life the transformative impact that music can have on kids.
