Introduction

Storytelling is everywhere in marketing, but sales is often left out. This article shows how sales needs its own kind of story.

What's the problem it solves?

Marketers build stories that entertain and inform, but these often fail in sales settings. Sales teams need a different type of story-one that helps guide real people through a buying decision, not just make them like the brand.

Quick Summary

April Dunford explains how storytelling in marketing and storytelling in sales are not the same thing. Marketing stories are usually made to grab attention and slowly build trust. Sales stories, however, are used with people who are already thinking about buying and need clear, helpful advice right now. If the two teams use the same story, it often doesn’t work.

She shows how most sales teams ignore marketing-made stories because they’re full of fluff or miss what the buyer actually needs. Sales needs stories that are flexible, focused on today’s value, and easy to adapt during a live call. April shares a structure made just for sales teams, one that uses positioning as the base, builds in space for discovery, answers objections, and ends with a clear next step. This structure helps teams sell better and makes it easier to turn sales material into useful marketing content too.

Key Takeaways from the article

• Sales and marketing have very different goals, formats, and audiences
• Sales stories should help buyers decide, not just be fun or interesting
• Good sales stories are based on positioning, not just creative writing
• Sales teams need flexible stories they can change during live talks
• Marketing stories often fail in sales, but sales stories can work well in marketing
• It's easier to turn a good sales pitch into marketing content than the other way around
• Clear steps in the sales story include showing the market, discussing options, proving value, and handling doubts
• Sales stories must focus on what makes your product the best choice today, not someday in the future

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