It may seem that our transaction with the customer ends with the final sale, but in some ways it’s just the beginning. But their experience with a purchase can be just the start of something more important to them.
When a customer gets your product home they fit it into their life in ways you might not be thinking about. What you sell them now becomes part of their lifestyle, yes, and also their individuality and quite often, a piece of a future memory.
When you are talking to customers, whether face-to-face, in your writing, or in your video, it’s good to remind yourself that many of your transactions will last a lifetime for that customer.
You may sell a product that will actually last a lifetime (or a very long time) or you may sell … ice cream cones. Nearly anything can create pleasurable memory that lasts a lifetime.
As you get comfortable with your storytelling, incorporate memory into it. Your memories of when you used the product you are selling – and what it means to you because of those experiences.
Let your customers connect with you through memory – past and future ones.
Booksellers do this brilliantly – because every bookseller can connect with their customers through love of a favorite story. And their storytelling doesn’t have to be long and involved. It can be a few sentences like, “I read this book to my kids when they were little and now they read it to their kids. It’s become a family tradition. You could do the same with yours.”
In an instant the story changes from “We have books” to “I had this experience reading with my parents as a child, with my children as a parent and you can too” the story is a past memory and creates a ‘future memory’ because you are selling a book (or any product) and giving it a story, giving it fuller meaning.
How does your product or service create memory? Reach back into your own experience for the story that highlights that and helps you connect with customers.
“My grandmother always swore by this brand of (Product) because (REASON HERE).”
Tell the story of how your mother always made the best crème brulee you’ve ever eaten – so now you sell all the equipment for making crème brulee in your Cook’s Shop and you throw in your mother’s recipe for free – so your customers can build upon your memory and make it theirs.
Using memory in storytelling connects your customers to your business through your past, builds upon their present and helps them create their future stories.
Don’t be afraid to look backwards for inspiration.
