Everyone loves a good story. When used in a sales situation, a story can grab people's attention, change the way they think, even move them to act.
Why do stories work where other sales methods fail? If you've ever tried to make a sale by quoting statistics, you know statistics don’t sell LTCi. When people hear they have a 60 percent chance of ending up in a nursing home, they typically think they'll be among the 40 percent who won't. Touting product features doesn't work, either. Bombarding a prospective client with details doesn't address the need for LTCi and generally doesn't result in a sale.
In her book, Stories that Sell: The Complete Guide to Success Story Marketing, author Casey Hibbard contends that even when you're talking about products and services, people are more engaged when there's a human element.
"Products and services don't function on their own; rather, readers interact with them. People encounter challenges to overcome, become heroes, find solutions and ultimately triumph," Hibbard said.
That's why a simple story can be a powerful sales tool, and why you should be using storytelling to sell LTCi.
Remember when telling a story, your objective is to get prospective clients to imagine themselves needing LTC services and thinking about what they would do in that situation — who would care for them, where they would live, how they would pay. Finally, you want them to see that the happy ending in the story came about because of LTCi and reach the conclusion that purchasing a policy is a smart move.