Donald Miller – Building a StoryBrand
In Donald Miller's excellent book, Building a StoryBrand, he discusses the idea that most of us in sales and business strive too hard to be the hero of our story, when in fact what our customers are really looking for is a guide. His core message is that the customer doesn't care how great the company is; they care about solving their own problem. The Story Brand Formula is:
The Customer = The Hero
The Company = The Guide
When you think about epic movie series that many of us love, look at the relationship between hero and guide.
The guide's role is not to take center stage, but the guide always exudes humility and helps the hero succeed. Miller says a great Guide displays the two fundamental characteristics of Empathy and Authority. Let’s see how this relates to our roles.
The guide understands the hero's struggle.
Salesperson: For example, as a salesperson, putting yourself in your customers' shoes, understanding their hot buttons and fears; while also giving them reassurances that their home will be built on time, including the quality and finishes they expect, and fulfill their dreams, is what would be important as a guide.
Sales Manager: As a sales manager, leading your team with empathy means understanding the stresses that we in sales can go through. Such as when salespeople hit rough patches for a few weeks without a sale and may start to unravel, or the stress of weekend work and late nights. Plus, being a good guide means adapting for your various salespeople's personality styles, as opposed to adopting a “one size fits all” approach.
Sales Coach: For me, as national sales coach, I have empathy for the salespeople I coach. I know firsthand how tough customers or cancelled sales can cause losses in confidence, and also how working weekends and holidays can be a drain and create family stress. I did it for over twenty years, so I can relate to these issues firsthand, which become much more pronounced when sales are slow. I have empathy for Sales managers, as we have three customers: our buyers, our sales team, and our bosses or owners. Juggling all three and trying to keep them all happy can be next to impossible. Also, I have sensitivity towards our owners who are entrepreneurs and are usually under massive financial pressure to get results, hit sales goals, and maximize profits.
The bottom line is whether you are a salesperson, manager, or national coach, our customers have to feel as though we understand their needs.
The guide has to exude confidence and credibility. The customer has to believe that you are an expert in your field; otherwise, they will keep looking for that higher level of guide to lead them to their promised land.
As a salesperson, can you lead the customer through the sales process by asking meaningful discovery questions, engaging continuously, and then matching the customer to their self-proclaimed needs? Then do you have the courage to close them on the home and homesite that suits their needs, maybe manage a few objections if needed, and ask again, moving to an appointment with a purpose if the sale isn’t forthcoming. In other words, are you acting with authority as their guide?
Just last week I took my son Max car shopping as he just graduated High School and is going to college in a few months. Living in Miami and driving to Boca, my wife and I want him to have a car that is just a few years old, that has been depreciated already, but is also reliable, safe, and maybe a little exciting for this new chapter of his life. Max picked out a few cars to go visit at various car dealers. The first dealership was awful; sadly, the salesman had no idea about the used car, and the car felt old and uncared for. The second dealership was just as bad, with the salesman knowing nothing about the car and not letting Max even drive the one we had driven twenty miles to see. At the third dealership, we met Julio, an experienced salesman who clearly was an authority in his field. He listened carefully to our needs, advised us, gave a perfect demo of the car, its safety features, and benefits. He let Max go for a test drive in a similar car and fall in love. He built value and involved us continuously with many trial closes. Then Julio sat us down at his desk, recapped, showed us the numbers, and closed. Be still my beating heart, finally we had met a sales professional, guiding us with wisdom and experience and performing at the highest level.
We made up a few objections, mainly about needing time to think. Without missing a beat, Julio explained the benefits of leaving a deposit to lock in the price and secure the car, to ensure it would still be there for us, while it was going through the certified pre-owned inspection process. We said no a few times, but Julio was persistent; his confidence caused Max and me to start to think differently, and we asked for time alone to discuss the car, while helping ourselves to some delicious dealership cappuccino. We left the deposit, Julio texted daily, and we came back three days later to look at the actual car. We explained that we still wanted to look around. Julio smiled knowingly and led us up an escalator. At the top was a glass-enclosed room with Max’s new car, spotless and shining in the morning sun with a giant red bow on it. We were speechless at this perfectly choreographed experience. I mumbled a few curse words under my breath, because as a dad I knew that this was the exact moment that my son fell in love with this beautiful car, and we would be leaving that day, driving this glistening piece of modern machinery.
This will remain indelibly stamped in my mind as the ultimate proof that sales mastery counts, and that our job is to have the courage to lead, the wisdom to guide our customers, and the confidence to close when you have met the customer’s needs.
As a consultant to managers, salespeople and owners, I often don’t know how I am needed as a guide until I begin working with and observing my client’s needs. For example, I love providing one on one coaching on Zoom. I recently coached a salesperson whom we discovered wasn’t leaving her model to narrow down to one of a kind because she was afraid she would be missing out on new customers. She agreed to change and started selling homes immediately; she hasn’t looked back since. While consulting with an owner I have been blessed to work with for a few years, I discovered they had no home site premiums, and as a result were always left with the hardest to sell homesites at the end. We looked at the map of the next collection and came up with premiums from $750 up to $37,500. They sold the homes more quickly, and evenly throughout the community, and also made over a quarter of a million dollars in additional profit! Just yesterday, I was chatting with another one of the builders I work with, and we discussed the problems in getting lower priced customers approved. Delving into the details, I learned that they had a 2-1 buy down in place, but this meant the customer had to qualify at the higher rate level, so this wasn’t helping customers with their affordability issues, and wasn’t increasing sales. Today, I introduced this builder to my preferred lender, who has forward commitments that for very little upfront investment actually buy the rates down permanently to the much coveted 3% and 4% range that the nationals are able to advertise. Buyers can now acquire their brand new dream home, qualifying easily at the lower fixed rate. Situation resolved.
I share these three examples not to brag, but to reinforce that I am merely doing the job expected of a guide. I am using my almost 40 years of hands on experience and wisdom learned in the field, to guide my clients on their journey to success with humility. Here is a neat acronym that describes our roles as guides.
G.U.I.D.E.
G – Gain Understanding
U – Uncover Needs
I – Inspire Confidence
D – Direct the Journey
E – Earn Commitment
As Donald Miller says, guides don't just offer encouragement, they provide a path, and the guide helps the hero avoid failure and achieve success. For more than three decades, I've helped builders, sales professionals, and sales leaders navigate the path to greater success.
My mission isn't to be the hero of your story. My mission is to help you become the hero of yours!
Roland Nairnsey is a national new home sales coach and consultant and is coaching sales team across North America with monthly sales in the billons. Roland is the author of Mastery of Selling for New homes and Mastery of Negotiation. Roland would love to chat with you and help you with your needs.
He can be reached at Roland@newhomesaleplus.com or 561-236-2400.
